The Lone Yojimbo
by Hellfire and Obsidian
Summary: Alone and away from his home, Jushiro is the lone Yojimbo. For the right price, and armed with nothing but the clothes on his back, a sword and a guitar from his home, he will do any job. Even if that job involves a 12 year old air nomad and an acrobatic fire nation circus girl associated with the princess. All will tremble before him. WARNING: H-SCENES, DEBAUCHERY, MILD LANGUAGE.
1. Prologue

I felt the wood of the surface I sat upon pressing into my bumb from sitting for too long, but it still comforted me somehow. I felt my clothing rustle in the mild wind, and it even whistled in my ears. The afternoon sun glazed the bench I sat on, and the environment around me as well. I saw a glaze of orange yellow creaming up the grass, a small pond of clear and reflective water that was inhabited by a small family of turtle-ducks- most of which were ducklings next to their mother- and a big tree that housed fluttering blossoms that fell down to the earth like a more plantlike and earthly version of falling snow. I held a stringed acoustic instrument that I learned was called a "guitar" – or so it was called. After I examined my surroundings, and took pleasure in them, I took initiative in my hollowed glazewood instrument and almost actually began to strum upon the strings. "Jushiro!" a gleeful girl's voice called out to me, loudly interrupting my train of thought as I looked overhead at the blazing sun and I was warped back to reality.

I was not in the middle of a nice little pond area, and the afternoon sun wasn't blazing beautifully over my head. I was in a merchant stands' area of a city that spanned over the most part of an island called Kyoshi Island. I was not sitting on a bench, but I was simply sitting on a round stool next to a fruit stand. But I was still wearing similar clothing, which was actually no more than a black samurai gi with a black oobi that had designs of red flames sprawling all over the black. I still held my glazed wood instrument though, and it was still fit in my hands like usual. The instrument looked more so like a lute, but it wasn't, for it had more strings than a lute and it sounded different. Plus the strings were not as easily cut or severed as the doubly fragile lute strings were, plus the strings could be adjusted for tightness. My hands were armored lightly, wooden and bamboo material as wrist and backhand bracers, and light bronze armor plating on my very wide radius shady hat that I had made, materials were curteousy of the people here. Over my gi waas a very thin and yet very large white overcoat, as was customary for whatever the people here thought I was. On my coat's back, in black dye and written in Earth Kingdom's custom kanji differentiation, was the symbol: 喰, meaning "devour". I was pulled out of my strange little blink of a vision as I heard my name called out again. "Jushiro." a young woman's voice called out to me.

I looked forward to see a woman in green, lightly plated armor with white and eye shadowing and lips marked makeup- the standard look of a Kyoshi Warrior- jog her way over to me. I stood up to my feet and I held my guitar casually in one hand, gripping the neck of the instrument. I stood at about five feet and three inches of height, and I had a more medium weight, muscular build to my body, keeping both acrobatic and physically able if need be. When she finally made it to me, I looked slightly down to her face and smiled. Though she was shorter than I was, I still saw her as more of my equal than just a standard villiager or guardswoman. Nonetheless, I smiled greetingly to the young woman in front of me, and bowed slightly to the Kyoshi Warrior. "Suki, good morning." I greeted.

She looked up to me smiling, like usual, and breathing a little heavily from the jog over here. "Good morning, Jushiro." she greeted.

Suki was the leader of the band of women warriors on this island, the Kyoshi Warriors was their name, as was the island. Kyoshi was supposedly a woman, one who was extremely powerful in days long past, confined to the history books and lesson scrolls as the savior of this island. What did they call her? Oh, yes, that's right. Kyoshi was called "the Avatar". Supposedly, the Avatar was a person who could "bend" or control all four earthly elements: Water, Earth, Fire, and the wind, or Air. Or so they say, as well as a few other things, which also seemed far fecthed to me. "So, what is the head of the Kyoshi Warriors doing at this mid-morning hour?" I asked her.

It only took her half of a second for her to answer. "I'm getting in some early jogging before we practice our forms." she answered.

I smiled in a warm, satisfied way as I chuckled. "A smart person in your ranks would practice their forms. Kyoshi Warriors fight with those strange weapons. Metalic fans? Ingenious, but confusing." I answered her.

She smiled smugly as she put her hands on her hips and stood back a step. "And what, you fight with that guitar?" she retorted.

I scoffed as I parted my coat to reveal it. A cream brown fabric wrapped hilt with stitchwork perfectly marveling quadrilateral patterns in the hilt's cloth cover, a round metal hilt guard with the artwork of dragons and clouds scultped and carved unto it. The blade itself was only a pinch shorter than the scabberd used to hold it, which was as almost as long as my whole leg, barely not reaching down to my sandal adorned feet- even though the sword was at more of an angle anyway, so it wouldn't reach my feet. I smiled upon showing her. "Eh, wrong. I fight with my sword." I told her.

She smiled to me with her arms crossed. "We can use swords and other weapons too, y'know."

I put my coat back to normal adjustments. "I know that. But nobody can even bend any elements here. I'd like to see that around the place."

"You've seen people bend elements before, Jushiro. Especially recently with those Fire Navy raid attempts." she commented.

I grimaced upon hearing those words. "Fire Nation" just brought up some unpleasantry in me. "Suki." I called her out.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry." she apologized.

"It's alright. Well, call me out if you need someone to help instruct the youngers up in your group. I'm going to continue my sitting next to that fruit stand." I replied.

And right before I started to walk away, she spoke. "Actually, we could use your finger skills while we're practicing." she offered. "And yes, I mean your guitar."

I rolled my eyes, smiling. "You know my price."

She raised a brow and submitted, annoyedly, to my reference. Her face wore the expression of 'Are you freaking kidding me', in a more posititve way and showing an annoyed smile. "Yeah, we'll make you another meal and you'll get a stay in the inn."

I grinned and closed my eyes. "Lead the way, boss."

We began to walk to the dojo of the Kyoshi Warriors up the road through the town. "You mercenaries are all the same." she spat out to me.

I held my guitar and tested the strings to see if they were still good. "Shows what you know, Suki the Great and Powerful. I'm a Yojimbo, not a mercenary."

"Same thing." she argued.

"Is not." I snapped.

"Is so." she shot down.

We contnued to walk until we were inside the Kyoshi Dojo. There were about twenty, maybe just fifteen, other women in the Kyoshi Warriors, all of whom greeted me upon my entry. I took a seat on a cushion that was laid out for me. As I strummed my instrument to the rhythym of my favorite song, playing each note and stringing my way through it impeccably, the Kyoshi Warriors almost seemed to be following my rhythym in their excercises. They fought with those fans, though, and I never did understand that fact. Yet again, I never thought I truly would, for I was only seventeen years of age. I was not some old sage or a cliche thinker or builder; I wasn't someone who needed to fully know everything. I was a Yojimbo, a seventeen year old one at that. Hours passed and my fingers began to sting slightly from the constant playing of my guitar. After all that time, Suki and the other ladies of her dojo stopped with the excercises. She looked to me and smiled as she thumb flicked a silver coin to me. "Here's a tip." she complimented.

I smiled and snatched the coin in the air before putting it in my pocket. "I appreciate it." I thanked as one of the Kyoshi Warriors took my guitar up to the room I'd be renting out.

"Take some time to walk around, then we'll have your dinner ready for you." she directed to me.

I got up to my feet and popped my neck a little bit. "You got it, Suki." I affirmed as I walked out into the dusk of Kyoshi Island.

The town would always settle all around for the night to come. The stands for buying goods would always be looking prepared if not fully closing up shop, and people would hardly be around at a later hour like the late afternoon. Dinners would be cooked, and baths would be taken by now for these people. But this was still comforting, for I rather enjoyed the small town feel that this place offered for me, almost made me never want to leave. Well, I had no choice to leave anyway, for it would take a lot of time for these Kyoshi Island villiagers to make me a decent ship and I can't trouble them to give me crewhands to help me get wherever I want to go. I walked my way to the arms and wares shop building in the town square, thanking the spirits that it was still open when I got there. I took off my hat to reveal my head and my face as I called out, "Her, Aro! You still at work, bud?"

I had dark, brownish black locks of hair that reached down to the back of my neck and my hair was always combed back, so I could still have my face be seen. My eyes were sharp and slim yet ovalular and round, adorned with rather thick and noticable eyebrows and long eyelashes. My nose wasn't all too petite or big, and my lips were normal. People often said that they liked my lips and my face, seeing it at night when I wasn't shading it from the blare of the sun on the hot summer days. "Yeah! I'm here, who's askin'?" a gruff, older man called right back out.

I chuckled a little bit. "It's Jushiro! The usual around here!"

A strong looking yet small and aged middle aged man with a chin and neck beard and short black hair with a frontal thinning hairline and a brown worsksmith's tunic and apron walked out and over from the inner stores of his shop. Upon seeing me, he smiled and rubbed the top of his head. "Well, well, the man of the hour, eh?" he asked.

I shook his hand both casually and formally, preparing to let him challenge me to another arm wrestle- as is the custom for the wizened old forgemaker. "Evening works going good, old timer?" I asked him.

"The same as they always do, more active with you being serviced." he responded. "You gon' need anything to be made?" he asked.

I nodded. "I'm going to need some more armor." I requested as I handed him twenty five silver coins from my pocket. "Just some shoulder bronze padding for my coat and lightly armored boots."

He shook his head. "Can't do the boots idea, not enough bronze from the ore veins."

I smiled and scratched my head. "I guess so. Then... what about your moonstone stores? Can you make me another sword?" I asked as I took out a piece of Jade that I found and I put it among the coins. "I think that'll be enough for it."

He groaned and sighed as he took the money and the jade off of the table and put it in his shop's money safe. "I'll need your coat, and your sword will be ready by this time tomorrow." he told me.

I grinned and took off my coat to give to him. "Thank you, Aro." I gave farewell as I walked away. "Goodnight."

"You too, mercenary." he replied.

"Yojimbo." I corrected.

XXXXXXXXXXX

I ate all of the food that was laid out in front of me, which was basically just cooked and buttered Elephant-Coy, with minced lobster and seared turtle-crab. I was like a living storm on a bloody battlefield, tearing apart and absolutely consuming everything that was in my reach, gobbling down the extremely well cooked meat and guzzling the ale that was prepared for me. As if nobody could tell from my actions, I was hungry and enjoying every moment of this. Though I did keep it to some level of politeness and civility by notusing my hands with the food too much. When all of my hunger was satisfied, I fell to my back, smiling and panting. I almost felt my belly begin to blob up and puff out like a giant bubble. But naturally, it didn't, and rather I just felt overly stuffed. "Thanks for the food, Suki." I thanked as I grunted and groaned, almost partially struggling to get back up to my feet.

Suki was simply looking at me expectantly, as if she wanted something else. "And...? You know the rule, you have to say it every time we do this." she asked and informed me.

I rolled my eyes. "Alright, alright. The Kyoshi Ladies-"

"Kyoshi Warriors." she corrected.

"—are the most superior fighting force you will ever see, and all other forces can suck it."

She smiled, humoredly and showing satsifactory approval. "Oh stop, you're making me blush."

"Except the Yojimbo, they're the most badass paid people in the whole universe." I finished.

"Oh whatever, mercenaries suck." she chimed in.

"I know they do. Yojimbo are better." I agreed.

She rolled her eyes. "I know, there's a difference, Jushiro. But come on, they're kinda the same thing."

"Nnnnnope." I argued. "Mercenaries are and Samurais, as well as assassins and warriors are totally better."

"Oh whatever, your bed's ready. Be ready to rise early." she ordered me.

"I always do, Suki." I groaned as I popped my knuckles loudly and walked to a futon and a blanket with a pillow that was laid out for me. "If I recall, I wake up earlier than you do." I chided humorously.

"Do **not**." she argued.

"Do **so**."

"**No**."

"**Yes**."

She put out the candles that lit up the room. "Goodnight, mercenary."

I closed my eyes and fell into a deep, and enjoyable slumber. And that slumber was also decorated by a fateful dream.

I was in the middle of a field of grass and colored flowers, underneath a crisp blue sky. White fluffy clouds were floating and dazing all over the sky, and the hills of green that seemed to stretch on forever seemed to move and rumble in the soft and yet strong summer wind. I looked upon all of this, and I smiled gleefully. "Ah... home." I breathed out.

Then the sky darkened and the clouds multiplied and darkened very quickly. Thunder began to crash and lightning began to flash all around the angry sky. The wind whistled loudly as it gained strength and speed. Then the unthinkable happened as I saw her standing in the distance. She wore a soft lightish red/pink fabric circuis acrobatic outfit with a red sash/skirt and what looked to be dancer's shoes. Aside from her outfit, I saw her long brown ponytail come to light when another lightning flash illuminated it. Seeing this, I began to run in an attempt to help her get to shelter from the storm. Then the sky seemed to open up like the mouth of an angry god, and no storm or lightning came from its gape. A giant ball of fire rocketed its way to the ground, conflagrating and killing everything in a blinding flash of light and fire. I woke up that next morning, sweaing and breathing heavily as I quickly sat up in place. Looking around after that, I thanked god it was a dream, and that the girl didn't die for real. "Gotta get up out of this, Jushiro." I grumbled as I began to get ready for my day, combing my hair and bathing like I usually do.

Unaware of what new adventure would go underway with the sunrise and the awakening.


	2. The arrival of the boy and his bison

It was mid afternoon on Kyoshi Island. I wore my coat once more, this time it had the generous bronze shoulder plating that Aro's workhand gave to me. I held my guitar as usual, and I sat down on a rock near the ocean. Most people pretty much feared going to the water on this island, but even they knew there was no harm in simply sitting **next** to it. They feared some kind of big serpentine monster in the water that preyed on the elephant coy fish. "Nothing good can come from being so distant you know." a familiar young woman's voice called out from behind me.

I smiled. "Never really was good for me, right?" I asked as I strummed my guitar a little bit, testing the strings.

She giggled. "I never said that, Yojimbo."

"Hey, this Yojimbo has a name, you know." I complained as I saw something rather unusual.

Looking up, I saw a bison. Flying in the sky, was a white furred, six legged full grown bison. I gazed upon it, not believing my own eyes. 'A bison? A **flying** bison, right in front of me?' I pondered to myself as I stood to my feet and saw that the bison was not alone. There were three children, barely a few years younger than me by appearance. One was a tan water tribal girl in heavy fur warmth coat attire with mittens, with long and silky brown black hair that was kept in a tail and small bangs that were strung and done finely. The other water tribal was a boy, older looking than the girl, but still similar looking and a little lighter tanned than she. He had some sort of fohawk and a back taillette on his head, as well as the look of some upjumped warrior son who wanted nothing more than to eat, sleep and fight if he must. 'Water tribals, must be from the south pole. But I don't remember there being flying bison in the middle of the south pole...' I pondered to myself as I saw him. He was a baldheaded boy with a blue tattooed arrow pointing down to his brow and I also saw the tattoos on his hands from the sleeves of his red and yellow tunic and the brown staff on his back.

I widened my eyes at the sight of the excited looking boy on the head of the bison. 'No...impossible. I've seen this in history books, but never...' I thought to myself as I heard Suki asked my from behind, "What're you looking at, Jushiro?"

I turned my head to look and see Suki and a few of the other Kyoshi Warriors standing at halt behind me. I blinked a couple times and regained my senses from that befuddling sight. "It must be the ale I drank last night, but I just saw a flying bison and three people make their way to the Unagi's beach." I answered them.

Looking to Suki, I saw the wind begin to blow and move her short fiery brown hair. She was the head of the Kyoshi warriors, so even without the hair difference and height difference, I could tell her apart from the others. Upon her head the wore a golden crownlike headdress that showed her honorific as captain of the group. She smiled at me, as if I just told her a joke. "If you can describe the people you saw, I'll go check it out." she offered.

I adjusted my hat to let her see my face a bit more. "Two of them were water tribals, a brother and sister by my guess, wearing blue and white fur coats. Similar to the tunics most of the people here wear, out of the sense that they were blue. And the third was looking to be an Air Nomad monk with tattoos on his hands and forehead, wearing a red tunic." I summarized to them. "I don't suspect that they're dangerous, but I **do** think that they could draw attention to the island."

Suki put on a more affirmative smile. "C'mon, girls. Let's see if the mercenary is right." she directed them as they darted off among the winter dead trees.

I walked off towards the town of Kyoshi along the dirt path, decorated with the dull trees and snow on the ground. I took out my guitar and began to strum in my favorite song. "It's Yojimbo, get it right." I mumbled as I kept strolling my way to the town.

As I walked on, I kept pondering to myself. 'That boy, the Air Nomad... I wonder if he's going to draw out... No, I doubt it. Why would **he** be all the way down in this part of the world? I'd expect something else from someone like him. But if that bison can fly... then that means I can... Yes!' I cried out to myself as I began to smile, strumming and playing as I walk. 'It'll be prefect!' I patted myself on the back as I ran into the town. It took me a few minutes, but I seemed to be there at the nick of good time. The stake in one part of the town square was now occupied by the three people I had told Suki about, the boy and his water tribal friends. The villiage patriarch, an old sagelike man with much grey hair and a lot of a beard upon his face, wearing the Kyoshi blue tunic for a villiager, oversaw all of this from in front of this. I walked my way up to him and asked him quietly, "Elder, why do you seem so tense?"

The Kyoshi Warriors and the people of the island all gathered around the event we were at, murmuring and whispering among themselves about the commotion. He turned to me slightly, his wizened expression revealing much truth in his words. "It was fortuitous that you saw these people make way to our shores, young Jushiro. They may be Fire Nation spies, or pirates, or brigands from the heart of that empire." he answered.

I smiled slightly. "If you recall, you thought that I was a Fire Nation spy too. And it's not an empire, it's a monarchy." I reminded him.

"Why do you take such an interest in this?" he asked.

I looked surprised, my face riddled with it. "Huh? I didn't take any real-"

"If there's anything I've learned about you, or the Yojimbo, since you came here, it's that you only take interest in something that you can benefit from." he interrupted.

"Hey, hey, a guy's gotta make a living out here. Even in this nice little place." I justified to him.

He closed his eyes and smiled a little bit from under his beard. "It matters not, Yojimbo. It's best that we solve this... problem." he said quietly.

"Show yourselves, cowards!" the water tribal boy demanded.

I scoffed to myself. 'He's brave, I'll give him that.' I thought.

Suki and two other warriors unblinded them from their blindfolds. They looked surprised and expectant when they saw that the people who apprehended them were women. But the water tribal boy wasn't done. "Okay, now where are the men who captured us?" he asked.

'Seriously? Stupid ass kid, **they** did it.' I thought. "There were no men, **we** were the ones who captured you." Suki answered them.

'Thank you.' I thought to her. "Oh, come on. You can't seriously make me believe a bunch of girls took us down." he boasted and blabbered.

'This kid... is absolutely the dumbest one ever... of all time.' I grumbled to myself, silently facepalming. "A bunch of girls, huh?" Suki asked, mocking him. "The Unagi is going to eat well tonight."

I became alarmed and almost drew out my sword. "No, stop! Don't hurt my brother, he's just an idiot sometimes." the tribal girl yelled to her.

At that, Suki let him off it. "It's **my **fault." a kid's voice spoke out to them, coming from the air nomad.

'Wow, he's even younger than I thought he was.' I surmised. "I just wanted to ride the elephant coy." he admitted with a more melancholy expression.

'Ride the elephant coy? I never knew you could actually do that.' I thought to myself with a smile. 'Maybe I should try it.' "Pah! And how do we know you aren't fire nation spies?" the elder asked him, interrogating and chastising him.

They began to talk back and forth and for awhile I was zoning off into my own world, almost falling into a daydream when I heard the air nomad say, "I know her because I am the Avatar."

That immediately and effectively woke me up. 'Oh f**kberries!' I cried out in my ears. 'That kid? Related to Kyoshi? I'm rich!' "The avatar was an air nomad who was lost one hundred years ago." Suki explained.

He put on this happy, recognized look, and said, "That's me!"

"Throw the impostor to the Unagi!" the elder commanded.

A lightning bolt might as well have struck my head and a cloud of my own stress might as well have poured down on me. 'Noohoohooo! I've gotta get him outta this jam!' I cried out in my thoughts as I reached for my sword at my left hip.

Before my senses could sharpen, before I could swoop in and save the day, the kid manipulated the wind by leaping out of his binds and floating down gently and gracefully. The villiagers and Suki's squad all gazed upon him like he was a peacock, ooh-ing and ahh-ing at his works of "magic". The elder finally spoke out, "It's true. You **are** the Avatar."

I smiled and silently cheered for myself. 'And I'm rich!' I walked away from that little scene and sat down upon a wooden surface next to a stand, and began to strum my guitar in an attempt to get my mind at peace for as much as possible. The people began to crown and parade all around the three newcomers, and all of the younger girls started to become the Avatar's personal biggest fans. They giggled and ran in, making the effort to be his most noticeable admirers. I chuckled to myself, seeing such festivity in the town. "You see that? He's the one!" the girl's voice chimed to me encouragingly.

I scoffed and adjusted my hat. "Yes, yes, I see it perfectly fine. He's the one, alright. He's my way out of here." I answered.

"And then...?" she asked expectantly.

I smiled and kept playing. "And then the fun begins." I answered.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Hey, you look different from the other people here." the Avatar boy said to me as I stopped playing my guitar.

I looked up to the boy from my hat's cover, and blinked a couple times in confusion. "Yeah, I'm not from here." I said as I took off my hat.

The boy looked over to me, surrounded by his fangirls, and smiled with his teeth. "So, if you don't mind me asking, what's your name?" I asked him.

"Oh, I'm Aang." he answered. "What about you? You can't just be the nameless guy on the side of the road."

I chuckled at his remark. "Jushiro. Rumor has it you're the Avatar." I replied as I stood to my feet.

He looked up at me and manipulated the wind to float up slightly and get to eye level with me. "You're really tall." he commented as he started to look at me more.

I blinked in confusion. "Yeah, that's what they tell me." I agreed as I smiled and chuckled a bit.

"So, what're you supposed to be?" he asked. "Are you just passing through?"

"I have no way to leave, actually. These people can't really build any ships in fear of the Unagi, and I can't swim an entire southern sea." I answered. "And I'm a Yojimbo."

"Yeah, don't try to understand him, Aangie." one of the girls said to him.

"Yeah, he's kinda confusing." another chimed in.

He stopped floating and set down on his feet. "Oh, a Yojimbo, huh? I never thought I'd see one here." he said to me.

"Yeah, they're all over the world now... well, I never saw another one, but I know they're worldwide." I smiled and said to him.

Then he put on a more calm and formal smile, a serious face in a way. "We can take you off of the island when we leave. If you want." he offered.

Now I was even more befuddled, because he didn't even know me, yet he just randomly offered me something that I wanted- desperately, might I add- and I didn't even pay him. Plus he knew about the Yojimbo... well, I think he knew about the Yojimbo. 'Just who is this kid?' I asked myself. "Well, I uh, um...buh?" I studdered.

He laughed out and raised his chin as he almost fell back, laughing playfully. "C'mon girls, I've gotta show you what happens when you try and air scooter upside down." he offered to the girls all around his as they walked off.

I stood there, befuddled and somewhat grateful that some thirteen year old kid was going to give me a free ride out of here; and yet still confused by the fact that he was the Avatar. I simply took a deep breath in, and then exhaled before I walked off to the Kyoshi Dojo.

As I made my way there, I noticed that the sun was almost about to set, and that I had made a commission to Aro. I closed my eyes and groaned, complainging about all the reverse of thoughts before I began to walk to Aro's shop. 'Alright, come the time these kids leave, I'm gonna head out with them.' I told myself. 'And then I'll begin to walk my way along the roads to...to...?' I tapired off as I saw that the white-furred flying bison with a brown fur line of an arrow ending off at the crown of his head; he was looking at me. He gave off a mighty goran and a big huff at seeing me. Seeing no danger, I smiled and waved in greeting. "Hello." I greeted.

He gave off another groan in response to me. "You're quite a strong looking creature." I complimented as I pet it lightly.

After that, and a groan in response, I continued to walk over to the worksmithery shop for my blade. I rested my arm on the conter and took off my armor-plated shade hat. "Yo! Aro!" I called out.

He walked out from a cloud of steam that erupted from the back of the visible store. He grunted and we shook hands like usual. "Here for the sword?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, that's right, Aro." I affirmed.

He held a thumb up and walked away. "Let me get it for you." he called out.

I smiled and chuckled to myself. "You do that, Aro." I muttered unoffensively as I looked at the town and the snow capped ground.

The setting sun reflected some of its crimson amber light upon the snow, and most of the reflection came from the distant water of the boundless ocean that surrounded the island, making the view at dusk much more beautiful and reflective of the sunset. I gazed upon the clear view of the sunset, looking to the horizon, and I whispered to myself, "It's time, my love. I'm on my way."

"Got it!" Aro called out, breaking my thought and making me jump forward a pinch.

I turned around and I saw one of the most beautiful crafts in the world. The hilt was silver with black string fabric laced perfectly in quadrilateral opening grip form, with a rectangular and patternless hilt guard. But the blade, oh the blade was so much better and definitely worth whatever decor the guard was default of. The blade was the length of two and a half standard bladelengths, and the metal was white like the pale light of the moon, reflecting everything crisp and clear like the water. My eyes sparkled and widened at the sight of it, and I goraned and ahh-ed in wonder. "An uchigatana!" I cried out as I humbly took it in my hands and began to caress and feel both the blade and the hilt.

Aro smiled with his eyes closed and laughed at my reaction, arms crossed and eveything. "You seem surprised by my talents, Jushiro." he bragged.

I looked back up to him, uncontrollably chuckling. "I expected something more like a giant knife, not something so grand of an uchigatana!" I justified. "Wow, Aro, this is just... thank you!" I thanked as I bowed my head and he handed me the scabbard for the blade.

"Save the formalities, Jushiro. You paid for this, now take it so an old man can close up shop." he brushed my dramatics aside.

I took the weapon and put it inside of its hilt as I walked away and waved. "Goodnight, Aro." I called out to him as the sun finally set.

I finally made my way to the Kyoshi Doji and I found Suki standing there with her arms crossed and an expectant expression on her face. "So what do you make of the Avatar and his friends?" she asked me.

I chuckled and took my uchigatana and fit it unto my oobi with my other blade. "I only met Aang just a few minutes past. He's a nice kid, and super helpful." I diagnosed to her.

She gave me a look, as if trying to read me. "You're leaving as soon as they do, aren't you?" she asked.

I nodded. "Of course I am. Like it or not, I still have to do my thing." I told her.

She closed her eyes and smiled disapprovingly. "Of course, you do. You're a mercenary." she affirmed mockingly.

"I'm a Yojimbo." I corrected once again.

"You say Yojimbo, I say mercenary. Same thing, you're a blade for hire." she argued.

"You say Kyoshi Warrior, I say pranced up groupie that fights with bronze fans like a girl." I snapped.

"Hey!" she griped.

"You see? Titlement makes the difference." I bragged at my victory.

"I'd like to see you fight better than we do." she challenged.

"Yeah, I've got news for you. I've beaten two thirds of every fire navy man that has come here, and I've defeated every captain that made his way with his men." I told her, demeaningly. "I already fight better than you do."

"Oh yeah?!" she barked as she got in my face.

"Yeah!" I answered as I got back in hers.

We kept glaring into each other's eyes for a few minutes on end, the small little burst of windflow starting to break the tension of fury. I smiled in a smug and yet blazing form, my teeth showing a little bit. "You're the only person here that can make arguments fun." I complimented.

She slapped me as hard as she could, and walked away, stomping and pounding in each step. "You're such a moron!" she snapped at me.

I grinned a little bit. 'Though she is brash at the moment... she is one fine lady.' I complimented her to myself. 'But not as fine as the woman I seek.'

I walked into the dojo and fell asleep for the night, my slumber heavy and unbreakable for the duration of my dreams.

**Author's note: Just to make a few things clear that might not be understood so far. For starters, Jushiro's favorite song is actually a guitar cover of the song from Super Castlevania 4; the song being called Dance of the Holy Man. Two, I'm not going to really make him follow Aang and his group around the world like Zuko does, but I'm gonna have him heavily involved with both sides of the whole Avatar conflict. Three, I'm going to put in small elements from a video game I've been playing and smoothly put them into Nathan's growth and development. Anyway, that's really all, so read, give a review, follow the story, all that jazz if you want. Hopefully you'll like it. Hellfire and Obsidian, out!**


	3. Departure from Kyoshi Island

A few days ago, they came. Three kids, one an air boy and the other two were water tribals: brother and sister by the names of Katara and Sokka. They came here by way of a bison with six legs and white fur, who happened to be able to fly. They had another white furred animal whom in turn could fly just the same, but he was a smaller mammal— a lemur. I saw these people come, and I recieved a special offer from the boy, as well as a surprising ammount of info. He was the current Avatar, the twelve year old monk was the Avatar. He had a balmwood staff that happened to have small compartments for wooden pieces and fabric, making effective wings for a glider that he used to fly himself. He offered me a ride out of my current placement, a town full of nice fisherman folk on Kyoshi Island. I didn't believe him, to be quite honest, because I thought he was joking with me. But deep down, I knew that there were no lies or haggles with this boy, and that he was telling the truth. For days, this kid has been the sensation of Kyoshi Island, everybody was going nuts about him; giving him everything his little heart desired for food and a place to stay. As I watched each long and humororus day go by, I saw that he was enjoying the time he spent being the idol of everybody's eyes. But he wasn't the only newcomer.

Sokka was the older brother of the water tribal children, or so I've learned from the talking of both him and others. He was both a mildly expertised strategist for battle and an imbelice who had a pentient for being hungry all of the time and for having a big mouth. He was still young, and partially experienced, but he showed real promise. As I analyzed him, I saw that given a push in the right direction, he'd be a powerful and sharp minded man. His arsenal consisted of a metal boomerang that he kept in a holster on his back, and a machete with a cocnave opening that housed a big blue ball that effectively made it into a club. In as little as a few days he challenged Suki in her own dojo, lost in front of the entirety of the Kyoshi Warriors, and has been her pupil for about two and a half days, following all of the traditions they had laid out for him. Even in terms of cosmotology, because he also had to dress like they did, which I chuckled at. While he was accompanying the Avatar, he and Aang recieved different treatment altogether. I had no real contact with him, and anything I knew was from either whispers or small incriments of what he has said to people who asked him questions. He was getting better from Suki's personal training, and someone with eyes on their face could easily tell that in the end, they'd be getting closer and closer by the end of a week. And they'd be romantically inclined within any other larger amount of given time.

Katara had no real weaponry to speak of in terms of bronze, iron or steel. She was the younger sibling, and the cooler minded of the two. She was a waterbender, the only waterbender in the south pole. She was no master at her art, but she was learning and practicing day by day. She was traveling with Aang in hopes of the two of them making it to the North Pole and learning waterbending from a master, a more refined and stable source. I took particular interest in her, simply because she strived to master an art that she and she alone was born to in her home. I made some attempts and succeeded in every one of them to talk to her and help her out in any way I could. She took a good amount of displeasure at the fact that Aang was recieving a royal treatment by the Kyoshi people, but she tolerated it in hopes that he'd learn not to let it go to his head and cloud his mind. She showed the mist concern about him and her older brother, but more so about the air nomad.

A few days ago, they came. Three kids, one an air boy and the other two were water tribals: brother and sister by the names of Katara and Sokka. They came here by way of a bison with six legs and white fur, who happened to be able to fly. They had another white furred animal whom in turn could fly just the same, but he was a smaller mammal— a lemur. Each of them had their own objectives and priorities in the time that they stayed on the island. But I had my own priorities as well. And on the fourth day that they were here, the opprotunity became ripe. On the fourth day, my chance came to light.

I was strumming my guitar to my favorite song once more, practicing to make sure that I don't get laggy or slow in playing. I had a new uchigatana made of moonstone metal, the blade was two swordlenghts long and the metal was stonger and more beautiful than steel. The late afternoon sun tinted the sky orange, and I was at peace in my own state of mind. "It's time, Jushiro." the girl's voice signalled to me as I looked up slightly and I saw that the late afternoon sky was decorated by more than just the sun and a few clouds.

The black cloud of fuel expense from a certain ship came from the shore that opened to the island, and the Unagi didn't tear it to shreds because it was made of something stronger than wood. I widened my eyes in a sharp blink of surprise. 'Fire Navy? Who... Oh wait...' I thought to myself as my expression became sullen and irritated. 'I know who it is.' I got up to my feet and I holstered my guitar on its strap to my back. I slowly walked down the road in the town's center, in order to greet the people who visited. I saw that the people of Kyoshi were expectant, and scared of what was next. "Stay in your homes, and take shelter!" I directed from under the shade of my bronze armored hat's shade.

Fire Nation overseas soldiers had a pentient for a few things. They usually had dark armor with red as the primary design's color, and the ones that could actually firebend wore skull-like white masks to both protect their faces like helmets and strike fear into people with a gaze like death. The non firebending men had visible faces, though, so people only feared **them** for the affiliation. I also knew that they had a somehwhat comical love for their beasts, like the rhinos. Three horns, one on the nose and two above the eyes. Dark skin, tough skin too, and a long, powerful tail. They were efficient raid and battle transport for twons and earth kingdom or other foreign affairs on the ground. Five or six rhinos walked along the street I walked down to greet them. Each rhino had two men on the saddle, one was a firebender and the other was simply the one who rode and directed the rhino at the reins. And all of them were led by the one rhino that had **one** firebender at the saddle. Upon seeing him, I smiled greetingly and challengingly. He wore no mask, for he didn't need one. He had the most prominent Fire Nation armor, with shoulder pauldrons that stood out, and the boots, gauntlets, helmet and bodly plating of a general. Or a prince. He had the face of an angry teenager with a scar on his left eye that was most likely from the unrelenting strike of a firebender. Upon seeing my smile, he scoffed and frowned proudly. "The Lone Yojimbo." he said to me.

I noticed the Kyoshi Warriors sneaking along the alleys and rooftops, preparing to sneak attack the Fire Nation men. I kept smiling as I took out my uchigatana. "Prince Zuko." I greeted. "What brings you this far south?"

"Someone I've been hunting. A boy." he hinted.

I chuckled and before I could say anything, the Kyoshi Warriors jumped Zuko's men with the element of surprise, catching them off guard and taking out almost all of them from their rhinos. Suki was going to take Zuko, but I looked to her from under my hat, and she took the signal and went on to another target. I looked back up to Zuko and took a stance with my weapon. "You have other things to worry about." I told him mockingly as I saw him flare up in his anger quickly.

"You planned to distract me. Clever." he rasped in anger as I saw him glare at me from the shadow of his helmet.

"I dunno what you're talking about. They aren't affiliated with me, I don't make their battle plans." I denied as I reared my sword back for a strike, slowly, and I took a deep breath, quietly in order to not give him a signal.

Then, I struck forth with much of my muscular force, and the ground burst into a small crater right in front of me as I saw chunks of earth begin to fly speedily at him. I heard the clunk of rock against armor and his grunts of fatigue from a strike to his body. 'He's still suceptible to something as trivial as that. Depressing. I'd better see what I can do about the children.' I thought to myself as I saw the dust cloud part and the head of an angry rhino charged its head at me. I sharpened my senses as I took my sword in both hands and vertically slashed down. The force of the strike bashed the animal's head so hard that I heard the cracking of a very integral bone piece, the skull, and it fell into everlasting rest as Zuko fell victim to momentem and was vaulted off of his rhino and onto the ground. "You didn't seriously think that your rhino could actually get me, right Prince?" I asked as I turned around and took stance to see Zuko angrily getting up in an acrobatic and fiery flare of dramatics.

He took an aggressive stance, his fists became engulfed in amber flames and he huffed out angry fire as his temper puffed up. "You think this will stop me, Avatar?!" he shouted out to the wind. "Come out and face me!"

I chuckled. "Either me or Aang. You're too incompetent to beat either of us." I mocked.

"Zuko!" Aang's voice called out from far behind him.

We both looked over to find Aang holding his balmwood glider staff, looking serious and ready to fight. I smiled and scoffed at this as I adjusted my hat. "Hmph, you got what you asked for, Prince Zuko. Tell your uncle I said 'hello'." I told him as I stook a strong strike to the calf of his leg.

He groaned in pain and got down to one knee from the intense pain of his wounded leg, bleeding out all over the gound. Then I reared my uchigatana again and struck with more force at his face, not even cutting him as the blow landed and he flew towards a building's wooden wall. The force of the hurling prince broke the wall partially, and left him momentarily out of commission and stuck as Aang landed gracefully on his feet next to me. "You'd better get to Appa. I'll take care of things here." Aang told me.

I smiled gratefully and put my sword away. "You got it, kid." I affirmed as I ran up the wall, somersaulted to the rooftop of the closest building, and ran my way to the beach, leaping across buildings and running across rooftops with relative ease.

XXXXXXXXXX

I've never flown before this point. The flying bison known as Appa had a giant five or six people supporting matt saddle on his mighty back, and reins on his horns to plot Appa's course of flight. I wasn't airsick at all, just feeling butterflies in my stomack from such a new experience. I sat in my own spot on Appa's back, accompanied by the two kids and the Avatar, and I did little more than boredly strum random strings on my guitar. 'I'd ask this kid if he wishes to hire me... but I doubt he has enough of the money or incentive.' I pondered as I kept looking to the kids that I was sharing the airborne seat with. Katara noticed the shifting of my eyes, and looked to me with her cool, blue eyes. "That's a cool instrument that you have there... mister..." she complimented with the absence of my name.

"Jushiro." I informed her. "And thank you, it was a gift. The instrument itself can only be found in big citites, it's called a guitar."

"Big cities only? Why?" she asked curiously.

I smiled, taking pleasure in her honest curiousity. "Big cities have money and safety, and wherever those two things are, you'd have more appreciation of the bigger name arts. Like tea making, orchestra, and painting or sculpting. This is an orchestral instrument, I've had this for five years." I answered her.

Sokka, who was still in the Kyoshi armor, save for the makeup, looked back to me and asked as he slouched in his seating position, "I never took you for an orchestral guy."

I chuckled. "I'm not, Sokka, it's just a downtime that I've taken heavily into."

"So all mercenaries have out of place downtimes?" he commented.

Right as I was going to argue with this boy, Aang called in. "He's not a mercenary, he's a Yojimbo." from the front of the Bison.

'Thank everything magical this kid knows what a Yojimbo is.' I thought to myself, praising the world for his existence. "What's the difference?" he asked.

"Though both Yojimbo and mercenaries are people for hire, like mercenaries, they were actually very similar to aribenders. They were a people, a race, and they had their own uniqueness about them." Aang answered.

I smiled and continued strumming. "You see? At least the Avatar has a brain in his head." I complimented his intelligence.

"Hey!" Sokka complained.

"You're just ignorant of the big difference." I said to him. "Just like when you challenged Suki in her own dojo and lost."

"Hey, hey, let's not get hostile, Jushiro." Katara calmed us down. "We're all just tired is all."

I nodded in agreement. "I actually am." I admitted. "But I'll need more than just sleep, I'll have some walking to do."

"Why?" Aang asked. "Are you seeking out a goal or something?"

I closed my eyes. "Yeah, something like that."

They didn't pry any further and it was at least two or three hours until we actually made it to a decent spot in the earth kingdom continent, so I took the initiative to take a nap to regain some much needed energy. My eyes closed, but still sitting up, I was in a key position to not be robbed of any of my stuff. But my dreams were nonexistent and absent, so that provided me with no anodyne or even any entertainment. But it was peaceful, and the unconsciousness provided me with some much needed rest. It had come to my attention that Zuko was actually hunting the Avatar so that he could go home, because he was banished after publicly being punished for... well, I was never there to actually witness it, I've only heard rumors and ill whispers. But the fact that he's down here, with only one ship of firebenders is enough to say that he was never in a good placement to fight to begin with. But I knew plenty well this kid would have more enemies chasing after him. And they would be much more relentless and far more powerful.

XXXXXXXXXXX

I landed on my feet after leaping from the Bison's back onto the ground. "Thanks for the ride, you guys." I thanked as I adjusted my coat to be a bit neater.

Aang, who was above me, landed on his feet and handed me my uchigatana. "Hope you'll be around to hire when you get to where you're going." he wished in good intentions.

I started to walk off as I waved to them. "You'll know my fee when I see you again, kid! Keep heading north, you'll find your way!" I called out in advice.

A few days ago, they came to Kyoshi Island. Three kids, one an air boy and the other two were water tribals: brother and sister by the names of Katara and Sokka. They came here by way of a bison with six legs and white fur, who happened to be able to fly. They had another white furred animal whom in turn could fly just the same, but he was a smaller mammal— a lemur. They led me off of the island, and as I walked my way further and further in the aimless forward that I followed as a Yojimbo, I realized that though the journey would be long and probably really hard, I would be seeing both my loved one and the Avatar very much in my future. As I, the Lone Yojimbo, began to traverse the beaten path that I had noticed been laid out for me, I chuckled and strummed my guitar to my favorite song. "This is going to be fun, kid." I said to Aang under my breath as I saw Appa fly overhead in a completely different direction.

They were new pieces to the board, and they were new elements to a different sky.

I walked on, strumming my guitar to keep my mind entertained while I simply meant to get to where I needed to go. "How long do you think it'll take, Jushiro?" her voice asked me.

I put my guitar away and simply walked in silence in order to not fail to hear her. "I'd say forty days. Maybe a little less." I guessed.

"That's gonna be a long wait." she slumped.

"You're across the continent and I have to make a lot of stops along the way. I've gotta pick up some stuff too." I argued as I came up to the opening of a small town that looked empty, and sounded deafeningly quiet.

As I walked in, dust blew into the wind of the night, and I stood in the middle of the street. Nobody made a sound, no feet pounded to the buildings, no breaths of sleep came from inside the buildings. All was quiet. Too quiet. "Really starting to wish you were actually here, and not just a figure of my imagination." I complained as I took out my moonlit uchigatana. "I'd have some help at least."

Nobody was around to see, yet I felt something there. I sharpened my senses and kept walking up the street. "Whoever's here! Come out now, and I promise that we'll have a good talk with a cup of mead and a game of Pi Sho!" I called out, in an attempt to kill anybody's nerve to be violent. "Pretty sure there's fair supplies around this place to do so, but we'll need to make some fresh mead!"

With my sharpened senses, I saw two men were jumping out of the alleys, both of them wearing hide clothing. Bandits, one of them had twin sickles in his hands and the other had twin jagged daggers. I sighed in disappointment as I horizontally full moon slashed with the all of my blade. They landed on either side of me, lifeless and lying on the ground with their faces planted in the dry dirt.

Once again, I sighed. "Seriously guys, this isn't gonna end well. Blood will be everywhere and I need a relatively **clean** bed to sleep in." I called out.

Five men jumped at me this time, all of them from the rooftops and they all bore the same weapons, jagged swords most likely made of bronze. I slashed crazy, in a dome radius of razor strikes before I rested in stance and watched five more men bleed out in front of me as I jumped over the mess and landed on my feet gracefully. Disappointed by all of this idiocy, I kept walking until I set foot in front of the head building, standing straight and almost stanceless. I lifted my chin and called out loudly, "If you just leave me be, you will be allowed to leave and I'll give you a piece of Jade!"

Then the chief came out. He was a big, hulking man with an absolutely filthy and gruff appearance, a thick grey beard, bald head, and a crazy eye. He wore the thickest hide armor, decorated with sabretooth bear fur and studs of metal. In his hands were twin iron axes that were big enough to be little halberds, and his mouth had almost no teeth. I doubt he could even speak in my language so I didn't speak at all. I simply took stance, both of my hands on my blade's hilt. He roared in defiance and resistance to me as he charged at me violently, screaming like a battlecry to a vicious bloody war. I smirked as I noticed the weak point in his posture, the chink in his armor, the weakness. With both of my hands, I swung with all of my arms' strength of point as I dashed over, running to my foe. I swung my uchigatana once, cleaving him, but ten strikes and slashes littered all over his body as he fell dead proved to be a show of expecting the unexpected gone wrong.

I spat at the ground and kicked his body as I walked away and into the stable looking building next to me. "Jackasses. All of you." I insulted as I whipped the blood off of my moonstone weapon and put it away.

That night I slept well, and without disturbance from anyone.

XXXXXXXXXX

Flashback:

"Jushiro, we want to play." a young girl about my age at the time decreed to me.

I was sitting on a small stone wall that was in the courtyard with the turtle-duck pond and the tree, as well as a few small wooden structures for leisure. I held my guitar in my small, ten year old hands and wore my black gi with a red oobi, no coat and no hat. The girls were all about my age too, probably a year younger. I recognized them all with no doubt. One had black hair that was done up in a small formal bun at the back of her head, like a tiny crown with a small red emblem of fire for the tie. She was dressed in more fine and regal, but yet casual clothing for our house.

The second had hazel brown hair, and the most beautiful and cutest face in the whole world with her brown eyes and that peachy skin. She had her hair in a tail (a long one) and she was dressed in light and acrobatically equipped, yet cute and pink clothing with dancer's shoes.

The third was dressed in black and red, her clothes more like regal robes, and her expression more disinterested in everything with her pale skin. Her hair was done more... I should say in a prissy way, but I guess more outwardly would fit. Like her house's little princess. Nothing really more to it.

I looked onto them with disinterest but saw that they were still standing there, expectant for my response. "Then you should play." I told them.

"But we need another person, for even teams." the black haired casual one said.

"Isn't your brother here? I saw mother with him walking through the halls." I asked in resistance.

She crossed her arms and frowned at me. "Zu-Zu isn't being a good sport at all, you know how he is. Besides, I wasn't the one who recommended I'd pick my step brother." she answered.

"I did!" the brown haired cute one cried out to me.

Since it was **her**, I decided to simply strap my guitar to my back. "Alright, fine, fine." I affirmed.

"The game is called 'Don't you love me'." the cute one told me.

My heart beat faster and my cheeks began to stain pink. I turned around to the girl who said that, and replied. "Hell no. I'm out."

I felt a couple jabs in my lower back and I felt someone pulling me by the back of my gi as my legs went limp. I was being dragged over to another spot to where we could 'play'. I squinted in my displeasure and grumbled in the same manner. "I'm getting my vengeance for this." I grumbled at them.

"Oh, relax." the displeased one said to me. "It won't be all that bad."

I kept grumbling under my breath until I was put on a bench underneath a shade structure next to the pond. Then they walked their distances away, and started to compete with one another in all kinds of ways. Little childish challenges for a process of elimination to see who will first get to play 'Don't you love me' with the stepbrother of the family. One of those girls was my stepsister, for I was adopted by her mother once she movied into this manor, the other two girls were her friends. It took maybe ten minutes of sitting limp on the bench before the verdict was carried out. The girl with brown hair and dancer's shoes walked in and sat next to me on the bench. I looked over to her, and my stomach fluttered nervously. 'She's so awesome. And so-' I began to bubble in my mind as I saw her look at me and smile in that cute happy way that she always did with either me or my step sister. "Hi." she greeted with a tiny wave of the hand.

I waved mine. "Hey." I responded, nervously.

She giggled. "Why are you so nervous?" she asked.

"I think someone might paralyze my arms or my heart if I say anything stupid." I answered falsely.

"Oh, don't be afraid of that, I'm not gonna be that mean." she pushed aside my logic. "You're that one boy, right? Who got in trouble from the headmaster because you didn't wear any academy stuff?"

I furrowed a brow. "It was academy decorum, and yeah, I got in trouble. Mother gave me a stern talking-to because of it, and I got my guitar taken for a week." I answered.

She laughed cutely. "That must have been torture." she stated.

I blushed and continued to look upon her beauty like she was a flamingo-peacock. "Yeah, it was. But I got it back, before you girls came up to me." I agreed.

She brushed a bang out of the way of her eye. "So, what's your name?" she asked.

"Jushiro. I'm in training, but I'm not a firebender." I answered.

"Yeah, I heard about that." she affirmed. "What was the word you use?"

"Yojimbo."

She giggled more. "That's such a cute word."

"Is not." I argued.

"Oh, okay, mister Yojimbo." she affirmed jokingly.

We continued to talk, more so arguing about the same little matter, but we both found it really entertaining. And in the end, I knew what my stepsister meant by putting this girl and I together; and the purpose was served. I fell in love that day, with a brown haired girl in dancing shoes.


	4. The Red Jewel

I continued to walk along the dirt road, not fearing any and all that came. I was in a wilderness, where the sun beat down on me like an angry platopus-bear defending its prey or its cub. The plain was dry, and sickly and dry plants littered the ugly and dehydrated ground all around me, as well as some boulders and rocks that were partially submerged into the ground itself. My footsteps were heavy and fatigued, for I was tired in some regard. Not exhausted or ready to fall unconscious, but my feet did hurt and I knew fully well that I would need to consume a good large meal and refill my water satchell- which I harvested from the ghost town, as well as a big wallet full of silver and gold Earth Kingdom coins. I had enough money to last me twenty or more days on the road. As I kept walking, the sun continued to rise into high afternoon, the peak of its height on the canopy of the sky. Lizards and mouse-snakes slithered and crawled in their dens below me, and I envied the animals, they had shade. "It's too damn hot out here." I complained as I adjusted my hat to keep me as shady as possible.

Though the sun didn't agitate my skin, the air itsef was hot, dry, searing at my stamina the more I marinated in its embrace. Then I came across the wooden sign that told of a village nearby. I sighed in relief. "Finally, damn!" I cried out. "At last, a good place to rest!"

I dragged my feet fatiguedly as I made way to my destination, the town. Upon sight, it was similar to Kyoshi, but the buildings were all made of wood more than any straw or bamboo-ish material. The town itself was like a big circle, with four big streets of dirt that made up the small districts, and tiny alleys and small streets between the buildings. I saw shops, a couple bars and restaraunts, and an inn that was two stories tall. I walked my way to the closest vendor and put two gold pieces and four silver pieces on the counter. My face was covered in the shade from my hat, but it seemed as if I gave off a weary and yet dangerous and desperate aura to the woman who ran the stand. "I need two water jugs with corks and strings to attach to my oobi." I said to her.

She was an older woman, maybe in her twenties of age. She had a rag of cloth over her fair hair and she wore the clothes of a simple commoner or a lucky peasant. But she was nice and cooperative as she put two rather big and round jugs of water that looked like spouts, with corks on the opening of the bottle and strings in looplike knots around the cusp of it. The string looked to be either silk or a cord of some kind, but it didn't really matter. She shuddered a little bit, like a chill went up her spine throughout our encounter. "H-here you go sir!" she squeaked.

I took the jugs and hoistered them to my oobi. "Thanks, miss." I thanked as I walked off.

I walked my way through the street that led to the bar, calmly keeping my pace in order to stall anyone from commencing in any violence with me as a newcomer. My legs ached and my muscles in my thighs and calves were exhausted, but yet I kept my chin raised and I walked steadily in order to not look weak. 'I don't know what to do when I find my first pickup. Kiss it or crush it for all of this menial bodily effort? ' I thought to myself as I walked into the bar. The bar itself was nothing major. Ten people in total, aside from the bartender and four employed women, were in a big room with a bar counter that served all of the drinks and three medium sized squeare tables and six booths across the cedar wood walls. Bounty hunters, all of them. Some looked Earth Kingdom, two of them looked to be ex bandits, and one even looked like a myrmidon apprentice with a temper problem. I walked in and sat at the closest booth on my right side.

I took off my hat and rubbed and attempted to partially massage my pauldroned shoulders with each opposite arm's hand. I grunted in both relief and pain as I did so, closing my eyes tightly. 'Whoever let me go off without at least getting some sort of royal massage was a real jackass.' I complained to myself. "Anything you want, hon?" a hiree woman asked me.

"Just a smoked hog-hen, with a glass of wine." I told her, being as polite as possible without drawing attention to myself.

She nodded and walked away as I reclined in my seat. I began to ponder upon many things that I needed to do along this journey, things I must retrieve and people I must find. But I didn't know where or how to find any of them, for I had no trail to follow in order to get started. I closed my eyes for a small incriment of time. 'Think, Jushiro, think... You've gotta focus on this.' I thought to myself. "Hey, have you heard the rumors?" a bounty hunter in the room asked.

I opened my eyes a bit. 'Oh dear spirits, thank you.' I praised as I listened silently. "What rumors?" another asked in response.

"They say that there's something in the mine up near the uncrossable desert in the northeast. Like a vault for the spirits." the first one answered.

"Bah, that's just lies." the second said.

'If there was a lady spirit of luck, I'd kiss her right now. And maybe I'd slap her.' I said to myself as I continued to listen. "People are already gathering to try and claim what's behind those big doors. " he told the second. "They say everyone gets a cut, and the gettin's massive."

'Oh fuck no.' I growled. 'Mine!' I almost jumped out of my seat when my food and drink were brought to me. "Here you go." the hostess said.

"Thanks." I replied as I began to eat.

As I ate, I tasted my own bitter anger with the wine and that was only helped by the fact that the hog-hen was quite filling in my stomach. I scowled as I remembered each intricate detail about the conversation between the bounty hunters. They found something that was a 'vault for the spirits'. I obviously knew what was behind those said doors, and it belonged to me, because I was the one whom in turn was busting his ass to actually finding them. I felt my body fill with the nerve to kill, but I had to bide my time. I knew I'd kill, but it needed to wait. 'It's not what she'd want, Jushiro. It's gotta be done in the right way.' I told myself over and over again.

"Well then, just go get it." my stepsister's voice told me.

"You know I can't yet, I have to get it peacefully." I told her.

"Jushiro, you don't have to kill them all if you don't want to. But you **can** hurt them all till near death." she argued.

I was silent for a few seconds as I came to a realization. "You're absolutely right." I affirmed as I walked out of the bar, my steps pounding with vigor as I quickly began to run to my destination.

The mine of the northeast.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Flashback:

I held twin katanas in my hands and held a ready counter-stance for my opponents. Three firbenders stood all around me, surrounding me. But I kept my focus on one, that was in front of me. The rose of dusk with her fingers on the cusp of slipping past the horizon added a sense of beauty to my environment in the outdoor training area. I saw that my step father and mother were watching me from a shaded bench, along with my step brother and sister. I smiled a small amount as I heard the ignition of a firebender's attack. My senses sharpened as I jumped with both as little emphasis in my height and yet as much power in my feet and leg muscles. As soon as I was in the air, I turned my body to where I was belly facing down in the air and I spun 720 degrees, utilizing my feet and my blades for attacking. I both slashed and pounded the three trainee firebenders in less than ten seconds before I landed on the chest of one of them and used him as a catalyst to jump off of in order to avoid the fireblast.

I sheathed my katanas and landed gracefully on my feet upon the grass in front of the family. My step sister smiled in satisfaction as she clapped lightly. My mother clapped a bit as well, looking amazed at my performance. Step father didn't clap, but he did look as if he saw promise in me, his lips tinged with a small smile. My step brother crossed his arms and noticed something about his father, looking displeased. He didn't even make eye contact with me. 'Is something wrong with-?' I began to ponder. "That was wonderful, Jushiro." mother congratulated.

I looked to her and smiled as I scratched my head. "Aw, it was nothing. I'm more than capable of a few firebender trainees surrounding me." I brushed aside.

My step brother looked like he was ready to attack me, and I think my step father noticed it. He looked to me and raised a brow. "'A few firebender trainees'? They were some of the sparring partners that Prince Zuko trained with until very recently. He took months to win a spar with them." he informed me in curiousity.

I chuckled under my breath. "Wait, seriously. I can't even firebend, and yet I just... really?" I asked.

My step brother looked a bit more puffed up and aggrivated. Step sister simply shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. "Well, he **did** get past their level. Maybe he can see if he should try to challenge you." she chimed in.

Mother didn't look approving at the situation, but curiousity peaked her with concern over her son. "Well, did you have your-?" she asked me.

"Mother, I already promised that I would only use them here if I were either fighting against exotic predators, prisoners or if someone demanded a greater challenge. Of course I didn't use them against those three buffoons." I answered. "I wouldn't disgrace the Yojimbo by violating that."

She nodded a little bit. "Then I suppose that you should allow Zuko to challenge you. But you have to keep it fair."

I smiled. "No swords." I affirmed as I cracked my knuckles. "Got it."

And Prince Zuko was younger back then as well. He had more hair, but it was in a royal uptie like his father's was. He had no scar on his face, and he looked like more of a happy and childish boy whenever he was with his mother. But when he stood up, he yelled out in anger. "Fine, let's see if you're worth the challenge!"

I smiled challengingly as I leapt and backflipped onto an open space to fight with him. "Take a shot, princeling." I taunted.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"So, that's how he got all bruised up like that?" the brown haired girl with dancer's shoes asked me.

I strummed my guitar a little bit as I sat with her on a bench in the moonlight. "Yeah." I told her. "The funny thing was, the only member of the family who looked out for him was mother. She insisted I wouldn't use my swords, while he had the advantage of firebending."

She scooted a bit closer and her hand brushed up to mine, making me stop my strumming. I noticed this and looked in her direction, upon her face. She smiled at me in that so very beautiful, cute way. "It's very nice that you only used your fists." she said. "You need to be careful with your family."

I smiled amusedly at her remark. "I have very little family in this world, mi'lady." I retorted. "You, mother and my step sister are my only family. Zuko doesn't like me and I feel I need to earn my step father's affections."

She closed her eyes and sighed a bit. "You're doing it again." she scolded a bit.

I smiled warmly and giggled a bit. "Doing what?" I asked.

"You're trying to be too respectful, trying not to do anything 'stupid' again." she continued. "You're a prince too, remember?"

"I'm adopted." I argued.

"Big deal, I have a bunch of sisters who look like me."

"At least you have siblings that are of your blood."

"I'm kinda wishing I simply lived with you and Zuko, that I was your sister instead."

I smiled and closed my eyes. "I thank all the spirits that I don't have you for a sister." I told her. "I like it better being how I am now."

We looked at one another, our eyes locked in the pale light of the moon. She was dressed in a pink and dark velvet red jacket and a slightly longer skirt, because it was colder out that night. She looked at me in the most beautiful way in the world. She was always cute, even more so when she was smiling and giggling, or just being her usual self. But she was serious, and I could almost feel the romantic inclination between us. I began to lean inwards to her, to the jewel of my life.

XXXXXXXXXX

"I don't recall giving you permission to come here, boys." I chided as I took out my uchigatana.

Twenty five men surrounded me, who stood in their way at the mouth of the mine. The sun was about to set upon the horizon, and my moonstone blade glistened in the pink light. I simply stood in my confidence, and all of the surrounding men were just about ready to try and crush me. I chuckled as I saw this in the men, the boiling anger and murderous intent. I almost felt like I was consuming it for myself. One of the men sloppily drew out his weapon, a spear of wood and bronze metal. "Listen, kid, you may live and walk away now, or else we'll kill you just for fun!" he threatened.

I swashed my blade, whipping some dust away into the wind. I chuckled with the excitement of a good challenge. "You'll kill me for fun, you say?" I asked, mockingly. "Then I might as well enjoy this just as much as you kids would."

A bigger, burlier one with twin bronze axes in his gnashed hands spat at the ground. "Ah see! So you're gonna have to be asshole here!" he insulted.

I sneered. "Shows what you know. You're the assholes here."

Out of anger at my challenge, they all ran at me in a large battlecry and a flood of men ready to kill. I took stance and prepared for them with my sharpened senses. They appeared to move only half as fast to me, and I felt much faster. 'Alright, let me see here.' I thought as I dashed forth at my enemies, silently and speedily. 'Strike swiftly.' I told myself as I ran through like liquid shadow and sliced with my blade of the moon. 'Strike strong.' I told myself as I cleaved through the flesh and bones of the bigger and stronger men. 'No mercy.' I told myself as I finished my barrage of attacks with a simple standing where I was, facing the mouth of the mine. My blade was clean, and the men simply stood where they were, out of energy and almost soulless. "All of you are fools and mongrels alike. You do not know what you even seek, and you will never learn the absolute failure of your lives." I lectured them. "Like the wolf, looking upon the moon from the lakebed reflection, you will never reach me or what I seek."

The men began to stagger and weaken more and more as time flowed on. "You can try to pounce upon me, but you will do nothing but fall to deeper depths and wallow in your failure. I will allow no one on this earth to stop me from my goal." I declared as I slowly sheathed my moonstone blade, and as the guard clinked against the scabbard's opening, dusk fell from the earth and the men fell dead all around me, their blood and entrails leaking out of them like an open mouth lake of death.

I sighed and walked onward into the mine, my destination within. 'Aro's craft is rather well made, I'll have to admit.' I thought to myself as I caressed the hilt of my sword. 'Maybe I should come up with a name for this baby.' I pondered as I came upon the doors of my destination.

They were not shining gates to another realm, or the walls of a welcoming country palace. But rather, they were giant old doors made of a bonelike white stone. They aged both well and poorly, in the sense that they still showed much age with algae, dirt and hanging moss. But they were still very strong and sturdy looking, and I saw the scars and strikes for when people looked like they were tryig to mine their way into the "vault". Seeing this made me a little happy, because I felt the jealousy of other people who didn't have what was inside of those doors. I chuckled as I took a single finger and brushed it upon the door, looking at the dust and dirt of age down here. "It's really something, these babies are so strong." I said aloud.

No one was around to hear me, so I simply pushed the doors open with all of the force in my arms. That was something no men here could do with ten years of mining at them or firebenders blasting them, or even earthbenders crushing at them. What was behind those big doors though, the so called 'treasure of the spirits', that right there is what truly made my evening. It was still intact, still beautiful, and still one of my prides and joys in the world, aside from her.

It was no more than a piece of celestial crystal, divine ruby that was raw and unpolished. The inside glowed with a fire that was not from this world, and the jewel itself reflected all of my desires, for it was what I needed to pick up along the way during my great journey. I smiled as I walked to the stone bowl pedestal that it lay in. 'Alright, you little beauty, you're the first I found, I suppose.' I said in my mind as I reached in my pocket and took out a black neck cord and held it up to the bowl, like an offering to a ritual. "Here standeth the elephant of war, to dash thy little ones against the stones." I chanted.

The ruby glowed with some sort of emotionless excitement, like coming home in its regard, and it flew speedily into the neck cord, connecting to it. I put the cord upon my neck, and wore the Berserker's Ruby like the newfound prize of a contest of strength. 'Now I'm a bit closer to you, aren't I? My shining star...' I pondered to my heart as I walked out of the mine and the doors quaked the ground as they closed on their own. The stars shone from the canopy of night, the lights and formations showing my way to another destination. Marked by the lone blue star, far off in the distance of the interseason sky, my destination lay bare. I groaned out, complaining and whining, "No fair! That's all the way across the earth kingdom, let alone the desert!"

I flailed my arms, like a displeased child and groaned before I calmed down and closed my eyes. I took a deep breath in and exhaled, calming down my nerves. "Ugh, whatever." I swashed aside as I squatted down with one leg striding in front of the other. "I think this one is the one I need for this. Or is it both this and another?" I kept talking. "Well, only one way to find out."

A gigantic dust devil began to gather around my feet and enrage more and more as time went on. Red light glowed in a corona around my legs, and the winds began to sweep up small rocks and dry plants. Then, I leapt. My body was like a great Lion-Falcon, flying with such strength and grace through the skies, defying the winds that tried to buffet me and batter me down.

I flew past the dust, launched past the bounds of wind, rocketed past the clouds. I had jumped with all of my strength both forward and upward, and for a moment, I only gained momentum forward. But the view was grand, for I could see almost everything. The majority of the continent, the city lights from Ba Sing Se, even where I needed to go next. The desert was like a pale blemish on the Earth Continent, the firelights from the Fire Nation glimmered like a moth chasing a distant moon, and I could even see the aurora lights of the atmosphere covering the poles of the planet. I smiled and just took in the pure gleaming joy of my placement. That was, until I felt gravity begin to pull me back down a tug. That tug began to grab at me and pull stronger. Then I lost all form of straightness and focus in my "floatie" locale and fell down and forward from the sky. As I fell, I braced my arms for any and all nature-borne attack that the gods would be sending as punishment. Then I arm braces began to heat up and as I gained speed in my fall, a corona of slicing wind began to gather and sharpen around me, and intense white heat began to gather and smolder. This process didn't drag out, and soon after, I was a meteor falling to the earth. Fire and pure energy were an unbreakable shield and fiery blaze of death and destruction around me as I fell faster and faster. I blazed through the clouds. I blared past the wind of earth. I seared through the sky and through the fire and the intense flames I saw it.

There was a gigantic mobilization camp of Fire Nation soldiers. Hundreds, no, a few thousand or maybe a bit less. Seeing this, I had no true anger or regard. I braced for impact and flinched in anticipation with my eyes shut tight. 'This is gonna suck so ba-' I thought as the explosion caught my thoughts in the throat.

Upon first impact, I bounced off of my arms and landed on my feet, buried one foot in the soil of the ground. There was a crater, black and seared from the heat the size of a very small villiage. Men screamed and fire mixed with the sound of chaotic thunder obliterated everything around me. My hands and arms smoked from the heat and my arm braces were charred thickly and they felt half rent and battered from the discharge. My sandals and feet were covered in dirt, which I kicked off of me, but they were still able for use. I took my hat and adjuested it, for it had fallen off of my head and although its strab was upon my neck, it fell to my back's cusp of the head. I messed with my ruby and walked onward, as I looked around at the destruction and carnage of the Flare of Death that my inferno had unleashed upon these men and everything around me. I took my guitar out as I walked on, and strummed a little bit, to my favorite song in order to lighten the mood. "Maybe I'll just walk." I said aloud to myself.

"Prooooooobably best, Jushiro." her voice agreed with me.

I smiled and chuckled. "Sorry, plum blossom." I apologized. "I kinda got lazy."

I noticed all around me that there used to be a forest here, from the looks of all of the rent and blazed dead trees and ashes all around me. "I know this forest." I said to myself. "It's sacred to the villiage close to here. It belongs to the..." I tapired off into silence as I slowly put my guitar away and took out my shorter sword with the cream fabric handle.

I felt the breaths upon my back, and my skin began to tingle a bit in a combination of fear and hysteria. I prepared to take my blade out as I willed to the power of the Ruby on my neck, and my body began to heat up and gain temperature. That relieved me a bit, to see that the jewel powered me up. As I sharpened my senses, I slowly turned around and grimaced in an impolite way at what I saw, the creature. "You're big, creature." I commented.

No preliminary movements, the clash began.

**Author's Note: I am SO terribly sorry for the longer wait for this chapter. I had a lot of stuff to do and I promise this won't be usual. But anyway, I think this was an OK chapter, because I do plan on having at least a chunk of my chapters with Aang's group or Azula's group in there. Oh, and if you guys have any questions or comments, private message or leave it in the reviews. I can and will answer and read any questions and I will heed any opinions from the reviews. Thx.**


	5. An Angry Spirit

The spirit was repulsive. It was a black and white skinned giant creature with six limbs- two legs and a black pair of arms that were smaller than the primary two big and strong white arms, a fleshy and yet skinned head, and it sounded like some sort of dimented reptile that's been starved of food or water for weeks. It smelled like the pungent juice that gets on one's hands when they pluck a weed from the dirt, and the strength of that miasma made me want to vommit. But I had to keep focused, for this was not an animal that was indigenous to this place, or else it would have been killed in the blast. This was a spirit, alright, and I could already tell because of the fact that its form was stranger than any animal I've seen either in real life, stuffed, or in text scrolls. I held my blade in my hand, and I drew power from the Berserker's Ruby. I grimaced impolitely upon seeing this spirit, the grotesque creature, and I spoke to it. "You're big, creature." I commented to it, making sure to at least get a few words out.

There were literally no preliminary movements to his initiative strike, the massive blow that began the fight. One of his arms gave out massive kinetic force, almost staggering me from the use of my blade to block his fists from connecting to my body and possibly killing me. One eye was closed tightly, and my muscles in my arm strained more and more in order to effectively block the attack uopn me. "Grrrr!" I growled loudly in strain from what just happened.

The spirit growled louder, in defiance to the fact that I lived from that attack. I became angry now, because this creature thought it could simply kill me. That it could kill me and take me away from her. "You will not kill me, filth." I insulted as I drew power from the berserker's ruby. "Not in a thousand years."

I thrusted forth my forearm and pushed my leg in step for my thrust of the body. From the strength and augmentation of the Ruby's power to my muscle capacity, my speed of the push was increased as well, and that speed drew to my advantage as I threw back my foe. The spirit fell to its back and I took stance with the cream hilted blade. "Don't get up, spirit." I told it, trying to keep it from feeling any more pain.

"I wouldn't antagonize it if I were you." I heard a scared old man's voice say from behind me.

I turned my head a bit to see a bearded and wizened old man with sagelike ragged clothing standing closeby to me, afraid for me for some unknown reason and yet calm and collected. "The forest... it must have been burnt down, disturbing the Habai." he continued.

I looked at him, confusedly. "Habai?" I asked him. "Yeah, the forest was burnt down. Fire Nation men were here." I said.

He looked understanding, but yet also curious. "And what happened to the Fire Nation men?" he asked me.

'Hope he won't lecture me.' I thought to myself. "I killed them all." I answered him plainly as I turned my thoughts to her. 'I killed them, right?'

"Do you see any of them around here?" she asked me as he actually spoke back.

"Killed them all?" he asked. "Then they must have burnt down the forest." he summarized.

I blinked in confusion. "No, I don't think-" I started as I sharpened my senses to find that the Habai was about to attack me with both of his arms.

I quickly turned my attention back to him and with both of my hands upon the hilt of my blade, I slashed with all of my strength in my arms in a crescent arc of razor energy from the Ruby. The gash bit deep into its face and torso, blue light blazing from the wound. It roared with anger and pain loudly, my ears barely able to take that strain of noise. "Aaaaow!" I cried out as I covered my ears with my fists and it ran away.

The footpounding and huffing and roaring of the monster's escape ended quickly as it faded into the shade of the night. I growled in irritation as I tried to prime my blade for another attack. "It's getting away." I said to myself, both in a panic for its retaliation and anger for being ignored as an opponent even though it attacked me first.

The old man's hand brushed upon my wrist and took gentle hold of my arm, as I turned my head in attention to him. "Let him go, son. You must rest, gain supplies." he advised as he nudged me, pulling me to come with him.

Seeing the fact that he was older and possibly more knowledgeable of this matter, I gave no argument to his consul and I followed him. As we began to walk, we also began to have a conversation. I held my moonstone uchigatana instead of my katana in my right fist as I said to the old man, "I'm sorry."

"Why do you apologize?" he asked in concern.

Guilt began to sear at my nerves until I finally said it. "The Fire Nation men didn't burn the forest down. I don't know if you saw, but a meteor came down upon both the men and the forest." I told him.

He continued to listen, but I could tell he also needed some explanation of that as well. "The ore on my necklace, its not a normal rock or jewel." I explained as I took it up in my left hand to gesture to it. "It's a spiritual enhancer, this stone makes me stronger and faster. I was in the middle of a desert, far from here. Then I-" I kept going.

"It does not matter." he said to me, interrupting my explanation.

I blinked in confusion a few times, trying to recollect my mind. "What?" I asked.

He smiled warmly and forgivingly to me as we kept walking along. "I'm sure you know that the forest can be restored, given some saplings and plenty of rainfall." he elaborated. "And if what you have said is true, it was purely an accident. They **do** happen, you know."

I began to feel a lot better, as I smiled and chuckled a bit. "I suppose you're right, elder." I affirmed as I put my blade away and took off my hat so he could see my face. "I'm Jushiro, by the way." I greeted.

We arrived at the small walls of a small town, with mediocre crops, good craft for the buildings, a water tower and a big commerce house in the far back. It was a simple looking place, and I doubted my chance of gaining any truly helpful supplies. But it didn't hurt to be an optimist. "Nice place, man." I complimented as I began to walk into the town.

XXXXXXXXXX

There was darkness first. Not any darkness that I could see through, given my training as a Yojimbo. Pure, black darkness that didn't look like it was ever going to break. Like a void, there was nothing to interfere with or tamper with its existance as such. I was at first empty minded about all of this, how nothing was around or even noticeable for seemingly eternity in all directions. The universe was full of at least the faint lights of the stars and galaxies, even the even lesser concrete ideal that ther worlds are out there. But there was nothing but complete and total darkness here. Until this.

A blinding light blared through the darkness that encased the small world. The light died down and I saw the sight of home. The sky, a summer night adorned by the pinholes of night's curtain and the clouds of the weather's goodness. It was beautiful, and a warm feeling filled my chest. At least, until the sky began to glow an amber blood red, like an angry god making a dramatic entrance in the world. Its very presence was angry and yet too powerful for me to do anything about it. Upon looking closer, I saw that it wasn't a god at all.

It wasn't a spirit, or a person, or really anything alive. It was a comet, the wayward star falling down to the earth. The clouds blazed to death and the atmosphere seared in its own outward agony. It was almost as if the world was taking a slowly burning white hot blade to the face, while the jelly and blood in her eyes was boiling and bubbling into steam and liquid pain.

I saw the comet more closely this time, and I looked upon it with awe. Then I heard the most out of place sounds in the world. The cries of a baby filled my ears, echoing in my mind.

I woke up in the bed I was provided, a standard one person small bed with white fabric sheets. My gi leggings were on, but the rest of my clothing and my hat and sandals were hung up to keep neatness and convenience for when I need them. My skin was hot and I was sweating a little bit, breathing heavily and sitting up abruptly in my bed. The one thing that pulled me out of my burst of hysteria was my Berserker's Ruby slapping against my chest from the momentum of my abrupt movements. Slowly realizing this, I closed my eyes tightly and held the ruby in my fist. "I'm okay... I'm okay, it's all good, I'm okay." I muttered to myself in relief.

I then decided to get up out of my bedding and get dressed for the day. 'Well, I might as well see what a man like me can do before heading out.' I said to myself as I heard the echoes of that baby's cries. Time seemed to drag on slower with me, being awoken groggily from a nightmare by something like this. I unruffled and put the top of my gi back on, I put on my coat and put my guitar upon my back with its strap, and I put on my sandals and hat. I smiled and breathed out with a smirk. "Another day." I declared to myself as I walked out of the place I was in.

The sun was high above me, and I saw the puffy and fluffy white clouds above me, painting the sky with the white-yellow sun and the blazing blue sky. It was nice out today, and I was a little happy to see the goodness of a good morning. I smiled and breathed in heavily with pleasure. "Who knew that autumn could be so delightful?" I asked myself aloud.

Then I heard the familiar groan of a great beast, coming from the forested road at the gate of the town's walls. Upon hearing it, my attitude changed and I quickly drew my uchigatana from the scabbard, and as I took stance with lightning speed my skin glowed with a corona like great embers from the power of my Ruby. The people all around me began to give me and the gate looks of anticipation and murmers of startled fear. For solid minutes I stood there, waiting for the Habai to strike from the shadows. After seeing that it wasn't going to strike, I put my weapon away and powered myself down, taking out my guitar in my hands. "At sunset, all of you must stay in your homes." I told the people as I began to strum the instrument. "The spirit, Habai, will strike then." I finished saying.

"How do you know of this, young man?" an elderly woman in warmth oriented clothing asked from my right, behind me a ways.

"I don't. But I will sit here and wait until he decides to pounce on me." I answered, admittedly with some contradiction on my first point.

I didn't know when he was going to strike at me, or if he was at all. He wouldn't chase me down to the ends of the earth, I knew that much. But I doubted any chance of being close to his dormain without seeing him again, on a confrontational level. But I had a duty, not only as a Yojimbo, but as someone who accidentally caused this, to end all of this whatsoever. I said I'd sit there, and wait for the Habai to come to me. And sit there I did.

It was a cycle of hours, and I literally counted each second, strumming to my favorite songs on my guitar and sitting upon a wooden stool of which the people were kind enough to give me. The sun moved like a bubble through a thick pool of honey or tree sap. Everything seemed in slow motion to me, simply because I knew that something better was waiting for me if I had moved on quick enough. But nonetheless, I stayed. Hours I sat there. Solid hours, I sat, waiting for my adversary. And seeing that he wouldn't come to me before the sun was set. I closed my eyes, not laying down, and slumbered to recharge some energy for the conflict that would soon be upon me.

XXXXXXXXXX

Flashback:

"Jushiro!" Zuko's voice called out.

I was in my favorite spot in the courtyard, next to the turtle-duck pond. The bench was warm underneath my butt, for I had been sitting in the late afternoon autumn feel for seemingly hours. My black gi and red oobi were keeping me at the perfect comfort temperature in this autumn weather, and it was quite enjoyable. I turned my body to look behind, and there he was. I smiled and waved. "Hey, step-brother." I greeted in a friendly way.

"Mom wants you to go to her." he told me.

I was hesitant, but I got up to my feet and began to walk to him. "Does she need something? Did she say?" I asked.

"I don't know. Azula's with her as well." he said as his expression stiffened with a dislike for that particular subject.

Without a word, I walked my way through the palace's halls, grand as they were, with as much familiarity as usual. Living in that place for years gave me a lot of time to memorize where everything was. Minutes of walking later, and I came upon a comfort room where my step sister and mother were waiting for me, wearing their best clothes. I looked upon them, smiling and raising a brow in confusion. "Best clothes? I assume you're going to see Firelord Azulan." I surmized.

Azula, my step sister, shook her head and smiled in that warm and yet connivingly cold way. "No, Jushiro, we're actually going to attend a gathering." she answered.

I ruffled my hair and scratched my head. "Well, that's cool. I guess I'll just do my own thing while you two have fun." I responded.

"Actually, one of your friends asked for you by name." mother mentioned to me.

My expression quickly became surprised. "Friends?" I asked as I looked to Azula. "I assume you want me to go with you?" I asked her.

She gave me a look of humored irritation. "Not me, dum-dum." she chided. "The girl you like." she hinted.

I smiled gleefully upon hearing that. "Well, I'm just about dressed in what I need anyway, let's go!" I cried out.

Azula looked back up at mother. "It's easier than a servant boy with him, when it comes to her." she bragged to her.

"Azula." she chastised. "Don't be so hard on him. All boys are in some way like that."

I squinted in disapproval. "I'm standing **right** here, you know." I called out.

"Go get ready, she didn't invite you to look like a ruffian. Change into your best clothes, son." mother smoothly and warmly ordered me.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

I raised a gently closed fist and knocked upon the big doors to our party locale. It was a rather big and roomy manor, which I was used to, but yet never **acustomed** to. I was dressed in my formal gi with my copper and red oobi, and I wore fine black shoes. Over my gi, I wore a fine overcoat that was decorated with artistic weaves of fire and flame blossoms. My hair was done really well, the servants had spent ten minutes combing and washing it. Mother and Azula accomanied me, standing behind me like I was the male, therefore I was leading them in. Following a few seconds of waiting, a few servant men opened the doors for us, offering us small entrees and drinks. Minutes of walking later and I found myself in the party's outdoor gathering yard as provided. There were not any people outside, I was alone, but yet there were lamps lit up and torches ablaze with light. People were able to come out here if they wished, but nobody else was here. Nobody **else**.

"You look nice tonight, Yojimbo." the girl said as she came out.

She was wearing a white and light red light robe dress with a couple small golden bangles on her wrists and a little layer of makeup on her face. Her hair was in that tail she usually wore it in, which was really cute to me. I smiled upon seeing her and walked to her. "You look nice too, princess." I complimented.

She giggles and smiled at me like she always did. "Oh, it's not any real good. I don't like this look as much as anything else." she downplaid herself.

I smiled and took her hand, kissing it. "You look good every day, princess." I complimented with a chuckle.

She gave me a look. "Very funny, Jushiro." she chastised as she gave me a playfully light slap to the face.

I chuckled merrily. "I'm only joking, plum blossom." I told her. "But seriously, you look amazing."

She blushed a bit. "Stop it, you're-" she started.

XXXXXXXXX

I woke up to the sound of a great beast once more roaring from the forest. I woke up my visionary senses and sharpened the rest to the best of a barely awakened ability, and I drew my uchigatana. "Come out, worm!" I shouted as I noticed that the sky was in the late afternoon, close to the setting of the sun.

And come out, he did. The great black and white beast, Habai, lunged out from the forested road, and came upon the villiage. I drew from the Ruby and with both of my hands, I slashed diagonally forward with all of my force upon the monster. Upon impact with the enemy, a gash of cut flesh and bleeding light made way upon its chest. It roared out in pain, blazing blue and white light coming from its mouth as it was raised to the air. I smiled in succession. 'It's still weak, I can drive him off at this rate.' I thought to myself as I saw something awful in my case.

The wound literally stitched the skin back together and the fleash wove back to its normality. My joy of nearing victory became surprised aggrivation. 'Wait... It can heal!' It roared again and struck me with its big arm, knocking the wind out of me upon impact of a building. "Argh!" I growled as I got back up. "That's it, no more Mr. Nice Yojimbo." I grumbled as I drew more power from the Ruby.

**Author's Note:** **Sorry for the wait, but I had a lot on my plate from both school and actually trying to make it compatible with the story of Avatar: The Last Airbender. But here it is, chapter 4. Hope you all enjoy it, and expect my other fic's next chapter very soon.**


	6. The Blue Jewel and the Kiri

I held my moonstone Uchigatana in my hands, gripping tightly and angrily. "That's it, no more mister nice Yojimbo." I declared as I drew more power from the Berserker's ruby.

I could feel my own body temperature blaze up and rise as my skin began to radiate a faint red, and my feet became heavier and cruched the earth beneath them. The spirit Habai, my enemy, roared at me defiantly. I tossed my blade up in the sky and took a kenpo stance. "Let's see how you like **this**." I challenged as I stood there and threw strong punches at the air between us.

Kinetic energy, the very earth itself began to slam and slap with extreme force upon flesh and bone of the spirit beast. Each one knocked him back or down onto the ground, of which he quickly got up to try and lunge back at me to retaliate. But with each try, he kept failing and pounding around like a punching bag. After a whole two minutes of that, I held out my hand and caught my sword with ease. Seeing the beast actually tire and falter was actually satisfying to me, and it lifted my spirits to know that I was finally going to quell its foolish anger. 'I'm finally going to leave, and I'm one step closer to you. After I bring this monster to its-' I thought to myself as the dumbest luck struck like a shooting star or a wayward comet on my battlefield. "Jushiro, here's your- aieee!" a young man's voice called out.

I could literally have killed him, and still would have gotten out of this fight with a win, assure the people of their indefinite survival and prosperity, and go on my journey on a better note. But no, the gods just **love** to prove me wrong. The beast phased over to the villiager and picked him up before he began to pull back to the forest, running at supernatural speed. I yelled out angrily and fearfully, "The hell you will, bastard!" as I slashed a dozen or more times with all of my force and speed.

Lines and waves of lightning force from the slices of my blade sped at the enemy like a bladestorm, carving even the very earth at monstrous velocity. The only way that I could tell that they made their mark was the angry and pained roars from an angry beast fading into the forest, his element that he could enter the other dimension. The Spirit World. I growled and screamed as I powered down, angrily and defiantly. "Dammit dammit dammit! Come back here, you ugly failure of sentient life!" I roared at the forested road.

There were only echoes of failure in the air, no responses from anything or anyone for miles. I stood there, furious at my failure that may have cost me the life of someone I didn't even know, and the villiage the life of someone whom in turn could have been helpful to their economy and their matters of the whole. "Did you kill it, Jushiro?" the old wizened man asked me, as he walked up my way and stood at my side.

I shook my head. "No, it can heal because of the closeness of the Winter Solstice. It has augmented power because of that blur between dimensions of Spirits and Men." I answered mercuriously. "I'm sorry, but I must leave your village."

"Why is this?" he asked as he put my his hand on his shoulder.

"Because, elder, he has a vendetta against me, not your people." I responded. "I'll need some food provisions, and to fill my containers with water before I go."

He didn't try to argue with my reasoning, and he didn't plead me to stay and help the village. He simply nodded and smiled warmly, trying to assure me of something. "I understand. I think with enough of the spirits'- er, the other spirits' grace, the forest will be restored and the Habai won't disturb us any longer.

I smiled back to him, my spirits now lifted by his assurance. "Thanks for the bed and the food, old man." I thanked him.

XXXXXXXXXX

And half an hour later, I was back in the sky. Only this time I had a full stomach and a carry pack in one hand with some food that would last me a week or so on the road, with chopsticks and a bento box and everything. I floated in the aimless forward that I had when I last took to the sky with the Ruby's power to expand my muscular capabilities. "So, we're coming up on the second find that I'm gonna make. We should make a wager." I said aloud.

"What kind of bet can you have with a figment of your own imagination?" her voice asked me.

"Hey, hey, I can still pay the real you up on our bet if I lose. Fair's fair." I answered, complaining.

She sighed in my ears. "Okay, I'm listening Shiro."

I smiled in excitement. "I land on my feet, I get to smother you when I make it there. I faceplant, I'll pay a hundred thousand in Fire Nation money." I waged as I began to fall and gain speed like last time.

Gaining more speed in my fall, her voice quite literally asked me, "Where could you get Fire Nation money from in this place?" as kinetic speed gave way to fire again.

"Quit questioning my logic, I'm trying to be cool about this business, like the hero of a samurai story." I chastised.

She giggled in my ears as I gained so much speed that the sheer wind force was lightly peeling away at me, thankfully I was already up to the ground. ' Alrighty then, let's see if I can-' I pondered quickly as I somersaulted in the air and landed on my feet violently.

If my leg bones didn't give out, then the mountain's mighty foundation did. I heard the gnash and crack, the shatter and fissure of the mountain rock breaking from the force of a meteor strike upon its body. The inferno of a comet's astral fire consumed most of the earth and dry plant life around me, and the gravity of my landing, the momentum, made the earth into black sediments all around me, ash and sand combined. The sounds of thunder on a clear day clapped loudly around me, and the crash of an unstoppable force and the immovable object breaking one another rang in my ears as a giant crater, like a pore turned into a scar, formed violently and unnaturally upon the mountain. From all of that, I was our of breath and my legs were a little achy. Panting, I said aloud, "Oy... Really need to try and find a better way to travel... Because I think there are gonna be more spirits that are mad at me after this crap."

As if the world- no, the universe- were trying to chime in, I only heard the sound of a great roaring lion as I saw something move towards me. I drew out my moonstone uchigatana and I found that it isn't any fun being right- especially when a great black lion with a lot of hair on his maine and great fangs that I knew could rend any normal man assunder. Lions were one of the few "normal" species in this world, due to the fact that most animals were hybrid of birth or creation. Lions were also a rare breed of animal, as well as bears and the even more rare dragons. So either this lion was something that I really couldn't have avoided, or this isn't a normal lion.

I used the strength of my berserker's ruby, and I used my uchigatana to strike the oncoming lion to push him aside. 'What the actual hell, universe!?' I thought to myself as I took stance and drew on more power, cautiously watching my adversary's movements.

After seconds of preliminary preparation, he lunged at me with his Great Fangs. I sneered as I full moon slashed with all of my kinetic energy in my muscles and the Ruby's light energy caught the beast in midair, and made him fall back before he could even strike. But even by that surprise, the beast still landed on his feet, ready to strike back when he wished. "Jushiro, I doubt that the lion will go down the easy way." the girl warned in my ears.

I grimaced a bit, realizing that truth. I've faced a lion a few times before, in the many travels I disembarked on within my life. And I've never seen one withstand all too much force from me, with or without my treasures or artifacts. Lions were strong, especially due to the fact that not only were they a rare species, but when it came to nature, the strongest predator survived. "I guess you're right." I affirmed as I took a killer's stance with the longblade.

Then came the final lunge of the battle, and I slashed my brand upon the beast.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Flashback:

I was beyond tired, doubly so achy, and tripled effect to hungry. But I kept going anyway. I pulled myself up on the thick, whitewood tree branch in order to test my arm strength. They hurt, badly, and my hands were bleeding from grabbing the branch so hard. But I endured every pull-up from this. I grunted with each repetition of this, but it mattered not. Only my strength did. "...900... 901...90-...2 ...90-...3!" I kept counting.

At this point in time, I was about twelve years old, and already have there been many changes in my household. I'm now recognized as a full fledged prince of the Fire Nation, admired better than even my own step brother, and every day, the nobility claims that I am the last vestige of my mother's warmth and goodness from my life. 'Mother...' I thought to myself, still pushing myself more and harder.

"Jushiro?" Zuko's adolescent voice asked from a small distance.

I dropped down to my feet and turned around, seeing Zuko in his usual royalty clothing and standing with his arms at his sides, looking at me with an open look I've never seen before. I gave him an expression of casual friendliness, trying to avoid a bad subject. "Zuko. What brings you?" I asked.

"Jushiro, how long have you been there? Pushing yourself?" he asked.

I looked up and around with my eyes, trying to remember the time I've spent here. Then I answered, "I'd say a week and two days."

He closed his eyes, grimacing at the fact. "Look, I know how you feel." he said, immediately setting off the fuse.

I sneered calmly at him. "You do? Really?" I asked him, condescendingly.

"Yes, I do. Mom's gone now, and you're-" he began.

"No, you don't know. Anything. Zuko, your mother was the one who adopted me, who saw that I had something she liked. Mother gave me a life where I had none, and I got stronger for **her**." I yelled at him sternly.

He opened his mouth to respond, but I kept going. "And what do I find out? **You** mess up in front of your grandfather, and then step-Father gets it into his crowned head that he should get rid of her to get to you. One can't blame themself, brother. But I can blame. I. Blame. Him."

He gave a look of confused empathy. "You're not... mad at me?" he asked.

"You're the victim here, Zuko. I just took the fall with you..." I sombered as I looked down to the soft and soothing grass beneath my feet. "After all, I'm all you've got." I admitted.

His reaction showed that it wasn't very positive. "So... I was right. Azula and Dad really think I'm the black sheep. But you fit in so well."

I sat down on the ground and drank from a golden vase into a small cup. "Your uncle and I are all you've got, Zuko. You need to earn your Father's respect, and your sister... I'm not sure." I told him.

He sat down with me. "This isn't tea, is it?" he asked.

I chuckled a bit. "I don't like tea, too bitter. It's water." I answered.

He smiled and drank some with me. "Uncle Iroh loves tea."

"I'm aware of that, he always tells me that. Jasmine is his favorite."

And Zuko and I became closer.

XXXXXXXXXXX

I walked my way down the mountain, worn out and irritated from the battle, grumbling to myself. "This is total crap, if that lion hadn't shown up, I'd be perfectly fine right now. But nooo..." I complained.

Then, as I came down to the base of the mountain, I noticed something that was nearly the universe paying me back for that immediate run of bullshit with the lion. It was a slanted tunnel opening made with ancient earthbending and sealed with such, and I felt it in the hairs on the back of my neck. "Jushiro, do you think that's...?" her voice asked as I ran vigorously, giggling and laughing with victory.

"Hell to the yeah it is!" I answered as I leapt to it and landed with a crunch on the ground.

I examined this seal upon the door carefully, thinking as hard as I could. "Okay... I'm not an earthbender." I stated.

"Not hard to figure out, Jushiro." she commented.

"Hey, c'mon! Try to help me out at least." I complained aloud.

Then it hit me. 'Wait, maybe this has something to do with the Ruby.' I realized. And seconds later, I powered myself up with the Ruby as much as I could and I pried open the rock enrtance with all of my muscular force.

Though I wish it were this easy, it took a little bit more than the standard opening of a door, sor I saw that the cavern must have been much deeper than just a small flight of stairs. I sighed in both exasperation and the want to for once be wrong. "Well, the sooner you go down there, the better." her voice said again.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." I affirmed in annoyance as I jogged my way into the caverns that held my treasure.

'And for once, nobody will be giving me any bullshit when I get it.' I thought to myself as a side note. As I went in, it looked to be a standard cave, mostly formed naturally and even with its fair share of bat-mice that hung from the cieling to accompany the stalactites. The only light that even allowed me to see anything really was a faint amount of the sun's light and the luminescence from my Berserker's Ruby on my neck. Walking on and on for awhile, I thought to myself, 'Great, a boring place in the middle of nowhere holds my stuff. Hooray.' But then everything changed completely, both in environmentally physical actuality and in the feel of this location.

White crystals, naturally formed within the walls and cieling of this now vast and large area, completely lit the place. Buildings made completely out of stone materials and even the very foundation of the caverns were all over the place, with a flowing, clean waterfall that made a river in the middle of this grand old-world city ran and flowed quite naturally. In some ways, and I mean in terms of natural beauty and historical or magical appeal, this new place was even grander than the Fire Nation capitol. I widened my gaze on this wonderous place and smiled in some sort of a gape. "Oh wow...!" I cried out, overtaken by sheer awe. "This is amazing!" I gasped out.

And I took my sweet time as I walked around in my search for the next treasure. I powered down my Ruby as I walked down more. I had never seen anything like this in my entire life, either in history books and scrolls or in the city itself. Nobody even told me that something like this even existed, not even mother or Zuko's uncle. This place was a giant city, which must have been absolutely full of people. "Wow...! If only I lived here when I was a kid, you and our family could be here too. I'm absolutely digging this place!" I cried out to her aloud, my voice echoing within this grand structural system. And it was all around this one certain temple looking building; a pyramidical design that housed that certain oh-so wonderful feeling in my stomach.

I smiled gleefully as I leapt down to it, finding an opening in the pyramid that had the exact same type of doors as the last treaure's location. I smiled and giggled gleefully as I skipped and bounded my way to them. "Alright, baby. Let's see if I can get you...open!" I challenged it as I pushed them open with all of my force.

They opened meekly, as if they were expecting me for some reason. They creaked open, stone grinding loudly against more stone, shaking the ground beneath my feet. I trembled and shook, nearly losing my balance and falling over onto my face, "Whoa whoa whoa!" I yelled out. "Not cool, Universe! Not. Cool!"

The tremors finally stopped as the doors finally halted open, thankfully nothing around me fell to be broken or anything, because that would have been a serious bummer for me especially. Seeing the wellfare of the place maintained, I smiled and sighed in relief. "Thank goodness..." I let out.

"Oh, no no no!" an elderly voice cried out behind me as I began to walk in. "What transpires here?"

I froze in place, completely freaked out. Slowly and surely, I responded. "I'm telling you right now, I'm only looking for one...thing... I'm not going to rob your treasury." I said as I turned around to see the unexpected.

This wasn't human, not at all. He was almost completely made of some sort of brittle stone flesh, with a beard made of fiber-thin rocks like needles, and he wore a roughspun cloak while he was bent over a stone walking cane. He looked like he was absolutely terrified of me, like he was going to pee himself had I done anything. I blinked in confusion and tension of this situation as he tapped his cane on the ground, confrontationally. "We have no treasury! So you have no right to go in there-!" he shouted as he practically gasped at seeing my neck. "-Oh!"

I held it up for him to see, still undeniably confused. "Yeah, I'm looking for more stuff like this." I informed him calmly as I made it flicker and glow for him.

He cried out, loudly. "The prophecy! It comes true in front of us!"

And immediately after that, an entire city's worth of "people" came out from hiding in the buildings, fountains, and all else. They had all kinds of forms, from giant scaly humanoids with gruff, and strongly built head and facial shapes to little catlike people with as much variety as the snowflakes- almost none of them were the same. These weren't humans, and I knew it.

I waved my hand a little bit, timidly. "Hey... guys." I slumped.

The elder that called them out here gave me a look and then a laugh. "Oh, yes. You haven't seen our kind before, or our cities." he assumed, from observation of my reaction.

I blinked and studdered a tiny bit. "W-well yeah." I answered. "I've never seen anything like this in my life, you people, the city, it's all quite new to me." I finished.

He chuckled creakily in his old age. "I had expected such." he summed up. "Not many humans see much of us anymore. They haven't for centuries."

I gave him a meek expression. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't-" I began as he stopped me.

"It's alright, young one." he told me. "Now that you're down here for the jewel, it's finally time for us to take back our homeland."

Their looks to me became very hopeful and pleading. I saw this and held up my hands. "Why are you guys looking at me like that?" I asked.

"Some of us are worried you will kill us all, as the prophecy foretold you might do." he told me.

I became really flustered. "I'm not gonna kill you! Not all humans are bad! I only came down here for the jewel, not to exterminate you people!"

They all cheered and practically partied all over the place from what I just said. I stood there with my eye twitching and my head about to burst. 'Quickly, get out of here.' I told myself as I ran into the pyramid.

And then I saw it. It was a cerulean blue gem that looked helixical with an outside rim like a flight of stairs. It was the same size as the ruby, so I walked up to it hastily as I put it on my necklace as well. Feeling its power add onto mine felt like a pulse of purest mountain spring water, both cooling like a wave of arctic water and yet boiling like lava. It felt like I had been dehydrated, and now I have no more thirst to drive me mad. It felt like I was more alive now than I ever was, and I relished in that feeling as I felt myself float with joy and my eyes closed.

Seconds later, I opened my eyes and I found out that I wasn't just really happy, I was literally floating. "That's really cool." I told myself as I flew my way out of the city of these post-humans, and quickly.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

It was night time already, and I sat on a soft boulder in front of a campfire that I had made from gathering all of the grass and dry plant life in the area. Looking at the pale, yellowish fire, I smiled contently. The fire looked rather happy, just like I was. "I'm that much closer, aren't I?" I asked her.

This time, she didn't reply. My breath caught in my throat, and I gasped in surprise. Her voice was always talking to me, and I've hardly heard silence for too long in my entire life. I got up quickly and looked up at the stars, on this clear night, only decorated by few clouds. I still didn't hear her voice in my ears, and that turned my happiness into a dark sadness that nearly consumed me. I was just about to speak, when I heard a little female voice ask me, "Who're you always talking to?"

I turned around swiftly and took out my uchigatana, priming myself for combat. But then I became surprised at who I saw. It was a little chibi-ish humanoid creature with half of its face covered in a stone mask that looked almost island-native in design. The other half was almost catlike, with fur all over her body (save her face), a scarlet iris in her eye and not truly detailed features aside from some kind of hair tress on her neck area that looked almost "royally catlike". I saw this as I put my sword away, sighing in relief. "Your people **followed **me?" I asked in irritation.

"No, just me." she said.

I breathed out in relief. "Better." I acknowledged as I sat back down and she leapt and somersaulted to land in front of me.

"Sorry for scaring you." she apologized. "I just wanted to get a look at you."

"Don't worry about it. I'm alone anyway, the universe just reminding me that what I want is far away again." I lamented.

She smiled to me, showing her teeth, which had some amount of canines above all else. "Well, you aren't alone, not anymore." she said. "I'm following you."

I chuckled a bit. "Sorry, but where I'm going, I doubt your welcome." I told her. "For this, I fly solo."

She crossed her arms and gave me a disapproving look. "I can hide very well." she bragged.

"In what sense?"

"I hid on your body, acting as all of your shades, and you didn't notice me until now, right?" she asked.

I smiled, realizing that. "Fair enough." I told her. "What are you anyway, if not human?" I asked.

She leapt up and reclined on her back, laying on the very air itself. "A Kiri. We're basically spirit people."

I rubbed my hair in my hand and smiled gleefully. "That's cool."

"What about you?" she asked.

I looked down a bit. "The Lone Yojimbo. I'm a Yojimbo, but I'm the only one."

She looked sympathetically to me. "What's your name?" she asked.

I looked back to her, casually. "Jushiro."

She smiled warmly at me. "That's a nice name, Jushiro." she complimented. "I'm Aiko."

"Aiko." I repeated. "Well, it's good to have you here, Aiko." I told her as I looked up to the sky and I found a golden tinted star, guiding me to a new place. "I suggest we get our rest soon, because another artifact is that way. I assume it's another jewel, like the Berserker's Ruby and Blaster's Sapphire in my necklace." I said.

I laid down on my blanket and I almost fell asleep before I felt Aiko cuddle up to me, purring like a kitten. "Goodnight." she told me.

**A/N: I'm so sorry this took so long, I had a lot of stuff to take care of before I could get it done. I DO plan on doing this story guys, I don't forget these things. So, here's the chapter, hope you like it, I'll do more soon and I'll see you guys later.**


	7. Big Spending

I flew through the sky, using the Berserker's Ruby as the jump for liftoff and the Blaster's Sapphire for the initial guidance and actual flight control. The air was almost pushing against me, whistling past my ears and waving my hair back continuously. The clouds brushed past me, even pushing and splitting off in different directions because of the speed and velocity of my flight. Even with the boom of my spike in velocity, the wind rushing past my ears, nature itself both agreeing with and defying my action- those noises were also giving way to silence.

I was waiting, waiting to hear her say something. Waiting for her to actually speak to me with that sweet, playful voice of hers. But there was nothing. Nothing came from my endeavors of patience in waiting for her voice. At this, I frowned and my heart sank into a depth that I had only felt a few times in my life. But then I came across something that would later become super interesting. A little fishing market next to the river, with a few ships at bay and lots of traders going on about their business. I beamed in delight as I hooked down and landed in the nearby forest, trying to go softer this time. I landed on my feet with a great comet crash into the ground, making it crack a bit at I set down brashly.

"Jushiro, why did we stop?" Aiko's voice asked me.

I dusted myself off as I began to walk into a clearing, adjusting my hat to shade my face a bit. "I'm just gonna check out the trader's market. And maybe get some food to eat, since you and I finished off my rations before we took off."

Aiko giggled maliciously. "You're right, have it your way." she told me.

"Hey! Jushiro!" Katara's voice called out to me.

I turned to my left to find Katara and Aang standing on the shore, most likely practicing waterbending forms, and while Appa was laying on his back, Sokka was using a cedar branch to clean his toes. I smiled as I used the Ruby to gently give myself a boost as I bounded my way over to the two of them lightly. I landed on my feet, fluttering like a feather and I pulled my hat back to where they could fully see my face as I smiled to them. "Aang, Katara, it's been awhile." I greeted.

Katara and Aang bowed to me, which was strange since I had been bowed to before- but only half a world away from here. "Master Yojimbo, it's nice to see you." Aang formally greeted.

I chuckled and rubbed my head, nervously. "Ehh, no no no, just call me Jushiro. And don't be so formal, it scares me." I directed to them.

Katara giggled humorously. "That one was Aang's fault." she told me as she gave me an amazed look. "What's with the jewelry on your neck?"

I looked down and played with the Ruby and the Sapphire. Smiling confidently, I answered, "These are special, two out of six, I think."

Aang smiled and looked at me confusedly. "Where did you go after we dropped you off? We didn't hear of or see you until just now, were you hiding from us?"

I shook my head as I told him most of the stuff I had been doing since that day I left Kyoshi Island with them. The accidental instigation with Habai, the bandits and the Ruby, and minus the Kiri, I told him about finding the lost city that housed the Sapphire. I made sure to ask him what he was up to, and it seemed we were on a similar base of excitement.

Supposedly, he had been tangling with the king of Omashu, Bumi, who has been his friend from a century ago. After that, the three of them had made their way into a Fire Nation occupied town where the Earthbenders were being kept in a prison ship; and there they liberated the prisoners with the help of a young boy named Haru. That, and he was the one who quelled the anger of the Habai and at the same time, he delved into a crescent moon island in the middle of the Fire Nation- which I knew as the Fire Sages' Temple. This really amazed me, because- to my understanding of his synopsis- he was able to be the bridge between the Men and Spirits. I smiled and nodded with them, listening and exchanging stories with the Avatar as I got up to my feet and gestured over to the town that I saw. "I'm gonna go to do some shopping and whatnot. There's a market town further down the river, if you guys are interested too." I told them as I began to walk down the river.

"So, you're friends with an Air Nomad and two Water Tribals?" Aiko asked me.

"Yeah, the Air Boy is the current Avatar, and the Water kids are siblings who found him." I answered her.

"So, the Lone Yojimbo and the Last Airbender are teaming up against the world, eh?" she giggled.

"Aiko, you have the strangest imagination." I conferred as we came up to the market town.

"Can I come out of this shade form?" she pleaded. "It's boring."

I rolled my eyes as I put my hat on over my head. "Fine, take the form of a white Wolf-Puma with three tails, and keep yourself at a small size so you could be on my hat and also be agile."

Obediently, she took such form and took a spot on my shoulder. As I walked into the town, we found all kinds of stuff. There were stands of food for ingredients, a few restaraunts, a weapons trader or two. None of these things really caught my interest. I was about to head to a decent restaraunt until I heard it. "Earth Nation, Fire Nation, Water Nation! As long as trade is your **in**-clination, you're welcome here!"

I looked to my right to find a curious looking man with raggedy clothes, yet more than a standard peasant. With his small moustache, his hair and the weapons I could see at his hips, he was definitely salted from travel on the ship behind him. The darkwood vessel wasn't the **biggest** ship I've seen, but with its scarlet sails and the crewhands working on it, I definitely knew that these men were pirates. And pirates were usually holding some foreign, interesting things. Immediately, I walked over to him and gestured to your ship. "I hear you have some foreign curios in that there vessel, friend." I greeted to him as I slightly pulled my hat up for it to still be on, yet he could see my face.

He gleamed in interest as we eagerly walked aboard the ship. "Ah, that we do friend! Foreign goods and treasures aplenty! That is, if you're interested." he offered.

I shook his hand and flashed a confident and charismatic smile. "Most definitely. Might I browse your wares?"

He led me to the indoor shop of the ship. "Of course, feel free to look to your heart's content!" he answered.

Carpets, tapestries, instruments, and other wares that only a well traveled crew could obtain were gathered all before me. "Ooh..." I gushed as I looked around in awe. "This is one heck of a selection."

I knew fully well that I couldn't spend **all** of my money here, so I had to keep myself in control. My wallet contained about 200 gold pieces in Earth Kingdom money, as well as 150 silver pieces and 215 copper pieces. In terms of other nations' money, I didn't know if they would accept it, so I was simply left to playing it safe. But yet there was one thing that caught my attention. Weaponry. "Ooh, what's that?" Aiko whispered in my ear as she gestured to a shelf that held it.

It was beautiful. A dagger, with a sandalwood and leather hilt and a medium bulk knuckle guard. The blade itself looked like a golden-ish material, and it was curved just to the point of expert hook lethality, and on the back end, two points of the knife's teeth made it look more intimdating when really, they must have been for a purpose other than death. But in the end, I noticed that the edge was sharp and its condition was practically timeless. This blade itself was a legend, and my eyes glimmered when I saw it. Picking it up, I giggled and gushed fanatically. "Hey, how much for this?" I called out as I walked up to a counter.

"Now that is quite a piece, lad." an old man's voice called out as a man with attire to obviously be the captain, complete with his own reptile bird parrot, walked out into the light and behind the counter. "You have quite an eye. Let's hope you have enough to buy it." he told me.

I set it on the counter and took out half of my gold pieces and a piece of green jade on the table next to it. Smiling confidently, I told him, "I think this will suffice." I gesured to the shelves. "And if you have any other fine weapons like this, by all means, tell me."

He laughed vigorously. "There are three more rare pieces. But do you have the funds?"

Seconds later, all of my gold and silver and half of my copper were on the table, next to three more pieces of green jade and a piece of white jade. I chuckled smugly. "You can get them now." I bragged.

He scoffed as he walked back into his room that he came out of. "How much do you have left?" she asked me.

I smiled and winked to the Wolf-Puma. "I have my other nation money and a hundred or more copper pieces. We'll be fine, Aiko."

Minutes later, I saw the three most beautiful things ever. One of them was another knife, it looked obsidian but it was rimmed with a shiny copper. This one was a straight one though, and it was wider and bigger. This one had the same material hilt, but the design of the blade itself was different. The other two were twin crossbows, and boy were they a feast for the eyes. One was a mahogany that was dark glazed, outfitted and plated with a flawlessly sunlit shining gold and garnet decor. The other one was a red rosewood with silver and amethyst decor. These weapons, I could tell, were durable and beautiful. They would never break under earthly standards. I smiled gleefully as I holstered these new weapons to my oobi and to some new straps. I waved to the pirate captain as I called out, "Thanks for business!"

Walking out, I felt a little lighter hearted in my steps. Twin daggers and twin crossbows now. Though...

"Aiko, can you do me a favor?" I asked her.

Meekly, she listened. "I need you to use your Kiri magic to hold onto all of my weapons of me." I whispered to her. "I'll keep the daggers on me, and the katana at my hip, but the Uchigatana and the crossbows please?"

And in the blink of an eye, they all blinked away. "No problem, Jushiro. Now let's get us some food. I'm hungry." she replied and a little kitty kiss on my cheek.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Flashback:

I stood in the middle of the training courtyard that I always used, the moon was above me in its full and pale embrace, the stars glittering like gems in the curtain of night. I was dressed in my gi as usual, and I held my katana in my hand at my hip. I looked up at the full moon, somberly, thinking about how lost I was without mother being here. "Why are you out this late, Jushiro?" Azula asked me from behind.

I turned my head to see Azula in her pajama robes, smiling warmly to me with those lips of hers. We were about fourteen now, and I had undergone most of, if not all, my Yojimbo training. I had matured much, growing stronger in terms of my body, but somewhat weaker in terms of my heart. I smiled upon seeing her, for Azula and I were actually really close. Almost like how it was between myself and the acrobatic girl she was friends with. I sat down on the bench next to me and she took a seat to accompany me as well. "I'm sorry, did I do something to wake you?" I asked her in response.

She snuggled up to me, getting under my arm and resting her head on my chest. "No, you didn't wake me up. I just wanted to see what you were doing up so late all the time." she told me.

I chuckled and smiled. "Sister, you're literally incapable of lying to me. There's an alterior motive at work here, and even if it isn't harmful, it is still influential."

She sighed in exasperation and closed her eyes. "Fine, I came to ask you for a favor."

"I thought so." I bragged. "Lay it on me."

She was silent for a moment, and then it came out. "There's a boy I like, Jushiro. And I'm not sure what to do about him."

I looked casually concerned now. "A boy? Well, tell me about him." I responded.

"I'm afraid you'll disapprove of it, Jushiro." she confessed. "It's forbidden."

I smiled and rubbed my head. "Well, the fact that I'm not royal blood kinda makes **me** forbidden too." I retorted. "You can tell me."

She and I sat up in the bench and snuggled, looking into each other's eyes. She opened her mouth to speak. "He's not of any royal blood, not that I really know of. He's quite good with non-bending combat, especially with swords. He's also really strong, but also really distant, really hurt." she described to me.

"Go on..." I urged her.

She smiled a bit, almost embarrassed about it. "And his most noticeable feature is that he can play the guitar."

I widened my eyes at the full revelation. She described me. "Ah- muh-muh-muh-Me?!" I gasped.

She blushed a deep red. "It's embarrassing, isn't it?"

I became flustered. "But, I don't think you understand, I love someone else."

"I know you do... Which is why I told her that we're sharing you." she replied.

I became confused. "And she just... agreed to this." I surmized.

Azula nodded. "Not without me getting into detail on how mother leaving made you need all you can get." she explained. "But yes."

I blinked a few times and grimaced fearfully. "I..." I began as I closed my eyes. "So wrong... You're like my sister-"

I was interrupted by the lips of the Fire Nation princess pressing to mine, lovingly and hungrily, like a dragon bargaining for all of the world's treasure. She was fiery, passionate, and downright hungry. She and I pulled out of the kiss, and I saw a wolfish smile curl upon her lips. "You amaze me, Jushiro. To think you could even think of resisting me." she complimented as she made a playful bite gesture with her teeth as she pinned me down.

I giggled lightheartedly and fearfully as I saw the hungry and lustful beast of a step sister begin to brew up on me with a fiery newborn desire. "Please don't kill me." I begged with a smile and a frantic giggle.

She smiled as she dug her teeth into my shoulder. I closed my eye tightly and widened the other as I yelped out a bit in spiking pain. She giggled maliciously as she drew her mouth from my shoulder and licked the blood from her lips. "I'm not going to kill you." she assured me as she breathed out blue fire from her mouth and she gave me a vicious smile. "Yet."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

That night, I was in the middle of the woods eating some sushi by a campfire with Aiko in her normal catlike form. I smiled at her as I watched her eat her food. She ate like she was practically a pig about to starve to death, while I ate normally with chopsticks and the like. Overall it was good, spending some good munching time with my Kiri friend without her hiding in another form to avoid being persecuted by people. I finished my food and she did too after a few minutes. We were sitting still for a few moments until she let out a big burp that echoed through the woods. We both looked at one another surprisedly and I think she was fearful of recieving a measure of anger from me.

Instead, I simply burst out cackling into merry laughter. She joined with me and we laughed like idiots until I saw darker smoke take to the air from a little ways away and I heard Katara grumble out loudly, "Ugh! Rrrgh, stupid scroll!"

Aiko and I flashed eachother a look as I got up to my feet. "Aiko, hide on me, quickly!" I whispered urgently.

She did so as I primed my golden dagger, which I took to naming Kiku, for use as I doused the fire and crept into the darkness of the forest. Taking my steps slowly and silently, I heard the sounds. Someone was kidnapping Katara, or at least surpressing her and binding her or something of the like. 'Great, now I have to save her.' I grumbled to myself in irritation as I used my Sapphire to gently and yet swiftly float my way over there, stopping at a halt unto the ground as I came to a vantage point and I spied on all of this.

Once again, Zuko was there, with his uncle, Iroh and their men. Iroh was a mid-short old man with grey hair, pronounced once strong features and a great belly. He was the Firelord's brother. But those people weren't the only ones there. The pirates that I had bought Kiku and my other new weapons from were there, and Katara was tied to a tree. I silently breathed out in relief as I saw that at least she wasn't dead or injured. They were also restraining Aang and Sokka, as Zuko held a scroll in his hand. 'So, they're trading.' I summarized.

"Now, let's get this trade over with." one of the pirates grunted at Zuko.

I took that as my cue to make my move. I tossed my blade up in the air and caught it moments later. 'Let's do this.' I said to myself as I closed my eyes, the natural darkness shutting out everything.

"What do you have to be afraid of?" Azula's voice interrogated in my ears.

I dashed in the aimless forward that I trusted my senses to guide me in. Everything seemed to be humming in a deep slow motion tremble as I made the motion. "This is easier than breathing, especially for you, Jushiro." she counciled like a verbal pound.

I could see the slashes, lightning fast wave cuts of light in the darkness. I opened my eyes as I stood among a bunch of unconscious fire nation men and pirates. Iroh and Zuko were still standing, and now the Avatar trio were free of their binds and restraints. They all stood in awe, nearly in open mouth gape even as I stood with my dagger backhanded, calmly. I looked to Zuko, almost in melancholy. "Tell me... Do you think I like this?" I asked him.

He was silent, almost petrified. "Jushiro, why **do** you fight me?" he responded.

I sneered in both anger and despair. "Because you had to be a dumbass and tear apart my family. Proving furthermore that you're the least intelligent and most insensitive boy in the world." I answered as I felt Kiri magic darken my vision and enclose my senses.

I saw five quick incapacitating slashes of volumetric energy in the shade of my eyes before I came to see once more. Zuko was on the ground, unconscious. I shot a glare at the uncle. "Get him out of here. Now." I ordered him as I walked away.

I put Kiku away as I looked in the direction of the yellow guiding star. "Jushiro... You sound like you know him." Sokka sumrized behind me.

I was silent for a second. "I **do** know him." I answered as I leapt up with all of my force and took to the sky.

"Jushiro wait!" Iroh called out after me.

I didn't listen, I simply flew as fast as I could. 'This is bullshit, I shouldn't be getting involved.' I scolded myself. 'Next time I see him, I'm gonna kick his teeth in.'

I landed on my feet, crashing unto the ground violently and angrily. For the duration of that night, I didn't say a word. Or at least, that was my plan. "Jushiro...?" Aiko inquired.

"You saw that I needed blindness in order to use that technique, didn't you?" I asked her in response, sternly.

She came out of her shade form and took form, looking a bit scared of me. "Yeah, I did. I'm sorry for interfering with you and your friend." she apologized.

I nodded and said to her. "I'm not angry, you're a big help, Aiko... And he isn't my friend, he's my idiotic brother."

She blinked her scarlet eye in surprise. "Brother? But you look nothing like him." she retorted.

I sat down and held up Kiku, how it glistened in the silver moonlight. "I was adopted. We aren't blood related."

She looked down a bit. "Oh..." she sombered, tenderly.

"I'm going to sleep now." I announced as I laid out my blanket. "Goodnight."

She snuggled up to me in her Wolf-Puma form. "Goodnight." she purred as we went to sleep.


End file.
